When I Needed you Most
by super-smash-ships
Summary: Plot: When the smashers moved Mansions a few years ago, Ness lost some of his close friends. He made new ones, of course, but it still wasn't quite the same. Things eventually got hard for him, so Ness tries to find a way rid himself of loneliness.
1. Early Morning Excitement

So I actually decided to do something a bit different. Instead of making a new fic altogether, I'm going to fix and finish an old one I made that was never posted.

((Also, if anyone has read Leonanson's fic "Camp Smash", that is the fic that motivated me to start my own. You may find that mine has some little similarities to theirs, so if you read and enjoyed that fic, you might like mine as well.))

Side notes: It's really important that you look over these before reading, to avoid any confusion. If you don't want to look at the ship list, that's perfectly okay and it can be skipped to avoid spoilers. The injuries and characters sections are very important though, so to properly understand this fic is recommended that you take a look at them.

DLC: I started writing this before all of the DLC characters were out (stupid, I know) so this fanfiction does not include Cloud, Corrin, or Bayonetta. I know I could have just edited the fic a little to put them in, but I didn't find they would have much significance so I just left it as is.

Characters: The roster has been slightly altered, due to my creative(?) mindsets on some characters. Robin and Villager have both been divided into both a male and female version of themselves. They behave differently, and are separate as individuals. A female version of a character is indicated by an asterisk at the end of their name. For example: Robin = male, Robin* = female. Wii Fit trainer is one, genderfluid character, but I use the pronoun "she" to avoid confusion. The Koopalings all exist separately, but only one (different each time) competes in organized combat. Samus and Zero Suit Samus have been combined into one character.

Language: AU where everyone can understand each other's means of communication. Tw: swearing. (Not excessive)

Injuries: Smashers cannot be physically damaged while in any form of organized combat. This meaning practices, tournaments or anything that is set up and planned. They can, however, be injured outside of organized combat.

Ships: (In order of relevance, with intensity description)

-Ness/Lucas (platonic/romantic) *most important*

-Sheik/Robin* (romantic/suggestive)  
-Pit/Marth (romantic/flirty/suggestive)  
-Link/Shulk (romantic)  
-Samus/Zelda (romantic)  
-Villager*/Megaman (platonic/romantic)  
-Rosalina/Palutena (platonic/romantic)  
-Robin/Peach (platonic/romantic)

* * *

 **Chapter 1. Early morning excitement.**

"No way! Everyone knows that I could beat you with my eyes closed!"

"We'll have to see about that."

"HAAHHH!"

I was awoken by a loud thud coming from the hallway. I looked over at the clock and groaned; it was 8:30 and I could already hear the other smashers arguing over something. I rolled over so my legs hung off the bed, and sat there until I could see straight. I stood up and walked over towards the door; opening it carefully.

"Good morning Ness!" Pit greeted me cheerfully from under Toon Link.

"Uhh, everything okay guys?" I giggled, a little confused as to why the two were in such a situation.

"Yeah we're fine, Pit still thinks he's going to win the archery competition today. He got sassy so I tackled him." Toon Link loosened his grip on Pit's shoulders and stood up. "I think it's pretty well known that I'm the best archer of all time." Toon Link bragged, sticking out his chest a bit for effect.

"Oh right, that's today!" I exclaimed. How could I forget about that? "I wish you both the best of luck."

"Thanks; I've been practicing all week!" Pit said. He sounded proud of himself.

"I'm still gonna kick your butt though." Toon Link snickered, shooting Pit a competitive glare.

"Is that so? You're so short you probably won't even be able to see the targets!" Pit teased back.

"Now, guys; no insults before lunch, remember? We've been through this before." Said a female voice from behind me.

"Oh, hello Zelda! Me and Toonie were only kidding around." Pit laughed in embarrassment. I turned around, to see the well dressed woman with long brown hair that matched the voice we just heard.

"I know, don't worry. I'm aware the two of you are friends." Zelda had such a mellow sense of humour.

"Ness, you're still in your pyjamas; why don't you go get dressed and the four of us can go have some breakfast. I heard Jigglypuff and Kirby were making pancakes!" She said with a gentle smile.

"Pancakes?!" Toon Link nearly flew through the hall, knocking Pit back down in the process. Zelda caught him by the back of his tunic.

"Wait, Ness still has to get dressed!" Zelda chuckled, amused by Toon Link's energy.

"Don't worry Toon Link," I said while helping Pit back up. "I'll be quick!"

I scurried into my room in a rather fast manner, seeing how hungry Toon Link was. It was spring, so I pulled on a white shirt with royal blue sleeves and my favourite denim shorts. I stepped into my shoes, tied them and headed back out to meet the others.

I was nearly ran over by Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong, who heard about the pancakes from Falco and came barreling down the hallway right after. The Smash mansion was usually pretty hectic like this in the mornings.

"Ness is ready! Come on guys lets go!" Toon Link announced as he bolted towards the cafeteria. Zelda smiled and followed behind him. Pit stayed back to walk beside me.

"So Ness, who do you think is gonna win today?" Pit questioned as we walked to breakfast. I thought for a moment.

"I'm not really sure. I'd say you'll do quite well, but Link and TL might be a bit of a competition. After all, they have had a lot of practice." I responded respectfully.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. As long as I have a good time, I'll be satisfied with how it goes." Pit added. He was always so optimistic about everything.

We got to the cafeteria shortly, and to no surprise we were met with several other smashers commenting on the pancakes being made.

"Aww, cute!" Toon Link commented on Kirby flipping pancakes with his chef hat. Kirby made a few happy sounding noises upon seeing us.

"Good morning! If you guys wanna go pick some seats, we'll deliver you some personalized pancakes when they're ready." He said with a smile.

"Personalized? Wow, he's really giving it his all." I said, impressed by his efforts. Kirby and Jigglypuff were both pretty creative. We went into the dining hall to find somewhere to sit and await our breakfast.

"Hey Ness, do you and your friends want to sit with us?" Villager called from across the room. He was joined by Rosalina and Yoshi; who both waved at our group.

"Sure!" I answered, signalling the other 3 to follow me. Before I could even sit down, Toon Link was already jumping around and screaming over the others pancake designs.

"Woah, that's so cool!" Toon Link exclaimed, as he took Rosalina's plate to look at it closely. "Look guys, hers are shaped like star bits! Isn't that awesome!?" The others all gathered to admire the pancakes.

I took a seat beside Villager and Pit. Villager's was shaped like a leaf type thing, and Yoshi's looked like spotted eggs; similar to the ones he traps the other smashers in during practice.

Toon Link ran over to sit with Villager, which is nothing out of the ordinary; those two were pretty close. Zelda made friendly chat with Rosalina about the upcoming events, and Pit was soon joined by Shulk, who came over to sit with us as well. I could hear his foreign accent slip through during their conversation.

I just sat amongst myself while everyone else spoke. I never had a really good friend that I was always around in the smash mansion. Sure, I had people I hung around with, but I didn't really have someone to call a best friend. I'm sure there were others who don't really have best friends either, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

I was then cut off from my thoughts by sounds of excitement from the rest of the group.

"Look guys, our pancakes are ready!" Toon Link said gleefully. Jigglypuff scuttled over to pass us our plates as various "ooh's" and "ahh's" came from the others.

Mine was shaped like a Mr. Saturn, which I found quite cute. I didn't pay much attention to what the others had. It had to do with hunger getting the best of me and the fact that Toon Link and Pit practically inhaled their pancakes.

Everyone else finished and continued on with their normal conversations, none of which I joined. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't feel myself this morning. Maybe it was the stress of having so many people around all the time.

Yeah. That was probably it.


	2. Distractions

**Chapter 2. Distractions.**

I started to feel a little off. I wasn't sure why, this usually never happens.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go take a walk. I'll be in my room later if you need me." I told them as I stood up to head back.

"Okay Ness, see you!" Villager called off to me as well as some others.

"I'll come and find you when the archery competition is about to start." Toon Link yelled as I trailed off.

I got out of the cafeteria, and went outside to get some air. I don't know what was wrong, I was just feeling little... Lonely. I'm wasn't sure why; I had lots of friends. Maybe it's being away from home.

I looked up to see Kirby coming from the cafeteria doors. Maybe talking would get this stuff off my mind.

"Hey Kirby, how's everything going?" I asked in his direction.

"Hi! Things are pretty good; I'm awfully tired from making all those pancakes though. That's why I came out here; I needed a little break." He came over and flopped beside me, out of breath from the heat of the kitchen. "How come you're out here all by yourself?" Kirby asked, a slightly worried tone to his voice.

I wasn't sure how to answer. "I had a headache, so I came out here to get away from all the noise." I lied. I wasn't even sure why I left, but I felt like I had to.

"Oh, I hope you feel better. Do you want me to tell nurse Rosalina? She might be able to help." Kirby suggested.

"I'm alright, thank you though." I sat with my back against a tree, my mind raced for reasons I couldn't understand.

I looked over at the little pink creature sitting next to me. "Hey Kirby, do you have a best friend? Like someone you go places with and can tell anything to?" I asked, almost not wanting to hear his answer.

"Umm... Sort of? I usually go everywhere with Pikachu and Jigglypuff, and I talk to them a lot if that's what you mean!" Kirby responded happily. I felt something inside me crack at his words.

"Oh, I see..." I looked down at my shoes. "Well, I have to go shower before the archery competition. Will I see you there?" I asked before standing to head back to my room.

"Oh yes, I'm going to watch Link!" Kirby said, looking up at me with glee.

"Yeah, it'll be interesting to see them all compete. Catch you later Kirby!" I began to walk off.

"Bye-bye!" He skipped back to the cafeteria with a smile.

I got to my room without making any conversation with anyone. I fell on to my bed, face first. What was happening? Am I really getting upset about this? I have all kinds of friends! Toon Link and I are close, and I have a lot of trust in Pit... _Why do I feel this way?_

I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. Maybe it's because I've always been second best. I've never really been a first choice, I've just been in the background somewhere.

I sighed; I can't let this ruin today's archery comp. I forced myself out of bed to check the time. It was only 10:30. I didn't know when the competition was, so I decided to get in the shower then head down to ask Toonie.

I had a hot shower and tried not to think too much. I shook the feelings of loneliness off and dried myself. I got dressed, and headed to the hallway. I decided to go to Villagers room to see if they knew were Toon Link was, since they were only 2 doors down.

"Hey, anyone here?" I knocked on thier door but there was no answer. I opened it to peer my head in, but they were nowhere to be found.

I started to walk down the hall into the living room to see if they were downstairs playing video games again. That was always fun, considering the TV was massive and we had every game imaginable. As I was walking, I seen Marth and Ike chatting.

"Are you seriously going to complete today? You don't stand a chance, Ike!" Marth said teasingly.

"I do so! You're just mad because I get to go compete with your boyfriend!" Ike protested.

"He's not my boyfriend! I said was he was cute one time!" Marth shouted back.

"He does look good in those tights of his, now that you mention it..." Ike said, swooning over the blonde swordsman.

"And I'm the one who has a crush on him?"

I walked over, giggling to myself. "Hey Ike, I didn't know you were competing today. Isn't it only for people who have their own bow?" I asked, interrupting their conversation.

"No, anyone can join. Bows will be provided to make it more fair." Marth answered, peering down at me.

"Are going to watch Ike 'kick ass' as well?" Marth nudged him, laughing.

"Not for that reason, but I'll be there." I grinned at Marth's comment. "Do you guys have any idea when it is? TL wanted me to go, but I wasn't sure when it was scheduled."

"It's at 2:30 today, competitors have to be there for 2:00." Ike informed.

"Oh, alright. Thanks guys! I'll leave you to your boyfriend talk." I snickered as I continued down the hallway.

"Hey!" I heard them jokingly protest from behind me. They were both very friendly, which I appreciated.

I went back outside to look for someone to talk to. I wandered around by myself for a while, seeing several smashers occupying themselves. Lucario was meditating in the shade, Little Mac and Sonic were running laps around the track, and Peach and Rosalina were discussing something as Peach wrote down several things on her clipboard.

After walking for a while, I found Zelda and Samus in the tennis court.

"That's cheating!" I heard Samus yell from the other side of the court.

"It's not my fault you can't teleport!" Zelda responded softly.

I walked over to her. "Are you beating Samus in tennis again?" I questioned.

"Oh! Hi, Ness; I didn't see you. Yes, I am. She's not fond of my use of teleportation." Zelda smiled back at her. "I didn't say you couldn't use your missiles!" She yelled over to the other woman.

"Would could they possibly do for me in tennis?!" Samus complained.

Zelda turned back to me. "Do you need something, darling?" She cooed.

"I was just wondering where Toon Link was. I was a looking for someone to hang out with." I stated.

"Oh! He's with a few others at the pool." She said, pointing me south.

"Thanks!" I said, running off to find him. I got to the pool and saw him and several others playing around and squirting each other with water guns.

"Hey, Ness!" Villager* said when she saw me. "You wanna come swim with us?" She encouraged. I checked the digital clock on the side of the mansion. It was only 11:15, I had lots of time.

"Sure, I will in a second; I'll just have to run and get changed." I called, turning back to the mansion.

I went upstairs to my room, got a towel, changed into my swim shorts and proceeded to head back down. I saw King Dedede on the way, and who I had a brief conversation with.

I made my way back to the pool, where I heard the screams in terror from Link and Pit before I could even see the water. I laid my towel down on a chair, and noticed Luigi sunbathing by the poolside. Toon Link signalled for me to be quiet and pointed up at the fence that kept the pool closed.

Megaman was perched on the fence in his little blue shorts and had his arm cannon filled with water. He carefully pointed at Luigi as he counted down from three on his fingers. I shielded my face as a heard a screech come from Luigi as he was awoken with a blast of cold water to the face.

Laughter erupted from all the other smashers as he dried himself off.  
"Ha ha. Very funny you guys." He grumbled jokingly as he wiped the water off himself.

"Good one, Megaman!" I heard Mario laugh from outside the pool.

I smiled; the other smashers were always keeping themselves entertained somehow. There was never a dull moment in the Mansion. Between truth or dare, pool parties, competitions, and video games; there was nearly always something that people were doing.

I hopped in and casually watched the koopalings play Marco Polo with TL; until Yoshi approached me.

"Hey Ness, I heard that Peach was arranging a baseball game sometime next week, you like baseball don't you?" He asked curiously.

"Really? Cool! I used play baseball all the time back home. I'd love to play!" I exclaimed. It's be really fun to play baseball with the other smashers. _I wonder if they're any good?_ _  
_  
"What're you guys talking about?" Toon Link asked, wading towards us. I paraphrased what Yoshi said.

"Ohhhh. I think Donkey Kong and Ganondorf are going to be playing, and they're insane at baseball. You might have some competition Ness!" TL concluded.

"I doubt they'll beat me. I'm really good." I bragged humbly.

After splashing around in the pool for a while longer, Toon Link was ready to get out.

"I'm gonna run upstairs to change, then go practice a little more for the archery comp today. You gonna come?" Toon Link questioned.

"Sure. I have to change as well" I grabbed my towel and dried myself off, then proceeded to walk back upstairs. It was 12:45 now, so I could just stay with him until he had to leave to take his place for the comp.

We got upstairs and headed to our rooms. I started to get changed; I stood there in my red and blue boxers when I heard my door open.

"Come on Ness, I have to practice!" Toon Link yelled as he burst into my room.

"TL! Can't a guy have a little privacy?" I covered myself with my shirt.

"Oh, right." Toon Link wasn't even phased. He turned around and continued to talk about how great he was going to do. I slipped on a long sleeved blue and yellow button up shirt, and put on my ripped jeans. I was still a little cold from the pool so I dressed a bit heavier. I turned around to see that he was in a green sweater and black skinny jeans.

"You ready?" I asked, cutting him off mid-rant.

"I was born ready!" He shouted as he ran down the hallway. I sighed. I'd be surprised if that kid even sleeps.

He led me outside to a large tree. He pulled out his bow and set his quiver next to him. He started firing arrows at the tree, hitting leaves off the ends off branches. I sat down in the grass to observe.

"Wow." I commented. Pit might have a bit of a challenge when it comes to accuracy. Toon Link was a little slow on reloading, but his aim was ridiculous.

"You really think I'm good?" Toon Link inquired. "I know I'm only young. I might not win, but I should place." He stated with optimism.

"You might have a run for your money when it comes to Link and Pit. Either way, you should do pretty well." I answered honestly. I liked that he was more focused on his presentation than winning. He continued firing arrows at the tree branches silently.

"Hey, Ness..." He mumbled.

"Yeah?" I responded curiously.

"Are you feeling okay? You didn't seem like yourself earlier, and I think Kirby was a little worried about you. Not to snoop or anything, just remember you can always talk to me if something's bothering you." He fired another arrow then sat his bow beside his quiver and walked up to sit next to me.

I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him the truth. Not that I didn't trust him, I just didn't want him to see me sad. It wasn't like me to get emotional like this.

"I'm okay, I've just... I've had some stuff going on, is all." I admitted weakly. I looked up and made eye contact with him.

"It's alright; everybody gets sad sometimes, Ness." He wrapped his arms around my neck and brought me towards him for a hug. A felt a lot better knowing he cared about me this much. We were then interrupted by Palutena's voice over the PA.

"Anyone competing in the archery completion, please report to the gymnasium now." She ordered pleasantly.

"I guess I have to go. If you ever want to talk, just come get me and say you need me. Even if I'm with my friends; they'll understand." He patted me on the back and ran off towards the building.

I felt a lot better after what he said to me. I knew it was genuine, but I was still a little gloomy. Even with TL and all the other friends I had, I felt a little empty.

Something still felt missing.


	3. Peach's Prizes

**Chapter 3. Peach's Prizes.**

I started walking over to where Princess Peach was standing. She worse a cherry dress with white tights, and had her pastel pink clipboard in her hands.

"Good afternoon." She waved at me with an innocent gaze.

"Hello, Peach; How are things?" I asked, making casual conversation.

"Quite well. Palutena is with the competitors preparing the targets and going over the rules. Will you be watching with the others?" She questioned politely.

"Yeah, Toon Link is going and he wanted me to see him." I answered.

"I'm sure he'll do exceptionally well. After all, he does have the benefit of the skill set." Peach commented. "It'll take place in the gymnasium. We're going to have two rounds for each competitor, and we'll base the scores on target accuracy and time." She informed. It was going to be a very intriguing competition. "Oh and one more thing, we're going to have another smash practice today at 7:00. There'll be an announcement, but I just wanted to let you know since you're here." She reminded.

"Sounds good. I'm going to go find somewhere to sit now, it might be crowded later." I concluded. I wanted to make sure I could pay attention to TL.

"Alright! See you there, darling!" She shouted kindly as I walked off.

I started walking towards the building to make my way to the gymnasium. I checked the time; it was 2:20 so I was going to be a bit early. I got there shortly, and sat on the bleachers by myself, taking in the scene.

There were two targets suspended in the air for each smasher, presumably. There were sixteen targets, indicating that eight people are going to compete.

"Hi Ness! Can I sit with you?" A young man's voice cut off my thoughts. I turned to see an average sized boy with white hair and a cheerful expression.

"Hey, Robin. Go ahead." I offered, patting the spot next to me.

"Thanks. You hear to watch Toonie?" He asked, sitting beside me.

"Yeah, he wanted me to come out for the comp. He's been practicing since he heard it was even a thought." I said, chuckling at his passion for such a simple event.

"Haha, wow. He must be awfully determined to win!" Robin said, giggling. "Robin* brought me here; she's sitting over with Wii Fit Trainer. She came to watch Sheik and Lucina." He claimed.

"Oh, Sheik is playing?" I questioned. I hadn't really heard much on who would be here today.

"Yeah, all the smashers competing are over there getting ready." He pointed to a corner of the gym; where several smashers caught me eye. I seen Pit, Dark Pit, Link, TL, Ike, Samus, Lucina and Sheik. I expected the first five, but the others were a bit of a surprise.

"Huh. I didn't expect that many to show. Who do you reckon has the best shot at winning?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. I'd say it's between Link, Pit, and maybe Samus." He predicted. Moments later our attention was drawn to Peach's voice over a microphone.

"Greetings, Smashers! The archery competition is about to begin!" She announced, earning some cheers from the crowd.

"Each competitor will be given 45 seconds to shoot 8 arrows into the targets. Every arrow that hits will be counted based on what colour section it's in, and you earn an extra point for every extra second you have left upon finishing. There will be two rounds, and after everyone has done the first round there will be a score recap. We will announce who is going before they step up, so you can easily follow this competition. Prizes will be given to our winners as well. In the event of a tie, we will have a sudden death match where they each fire a coloured arrow and the closest to the center will reign victorious." Peach concluded.

"This is gonna be really cool! I hope TL does well." Robin leaned forward to peer down at the players. After some chatter from the crowd, Peach notified us that it was starting.

The first to go up was Lucina. I didn't pay much attention, hence my unfamiliarity with her. She didn't seem like a threat to Toon Link anyway. She finished with a 61, which wasn't all that impressive. Next up was Dark Pit. He got a 68, purely from extra time at the end.

"Ness look, Link is up next!" Robin cheered for him as he walked up to his place. Link was going to be a tough opponent. We watched in awe as he completely destroyed the first two scores. He never missed once, and had a lot of seemingly perfect shots. He finished with a 82, which was going to be very hard to top.

After Link was Ike, who I giggled upon seeing. He was one of the ones who was only going in for something to do.

"I heard Marth bet Ike that he wouldn't place above last." Robin informed, smiling at their shenanigans.

"Really? Poor guy." I laughed. I knew Ike didn't expect to win, he did stuff like this for show all the time. Ike did pretty awful, as expected. He did pretty okay with the shots he made, but he ran out of time at the 6th arrow, leaving him in last with 47 points.

I practically zoned out until Toon Link was announced and he stepped forward. There was some more cheers from Robin and myself for him, of course.

TL did okay the first round, but reloading was his expected downfall. He was done with only 2 seconds left, but his aim was incredible. He finished with a 74, putting him behind Link.

I didn't watch many of the others overly carefully, other than Pit of course. Robin and myself were encouraging all the smashers, but we both wanted Pit or TL to win, or at least place.

After everyone was finished the first round, Peach updated the score. I glanced up to see the digital board projected onto the wall. It read:

1st: Link, 83  
2nd: Pit, 80  
3rd: Sheik, 76  
4th: Toon Link, 74  
5th: Samus, 71  
6th: Dark Pit, 68  
7th: Lucina, 61  
8th: Ike, 47

The scoreboard was a little surprising, but anything could happen in round two. Toonie seemed a little worried, so I was hoping round two would be an opportunity for him to get ahead. I was also quite taken back at Samus' performance; I didn't expect her to do as well as she did. Samus was very talented, it seemed like she was good at everything. Many smashers admired her for her talent; either that, or her appearance. I had a lot of respect for Samus in general.

The second round seemed to go by a lot faster. The first few competitors seemed to do just as good as before, and once again Robin and myself were both on the edge of our seats when Pit and TL went up.

Pit seemed a little off during the second round, but he still looked to be doing well. He finished the second round with a 78, which should have kept him in the top three.

Then Toon Link went up. The bell went off for him to start and he immediately gave it his all. "Wow... loo at him go!" I said, widening my eyes. Toon Link did amazing the second round. He had no less than a 9, and he finished earlier. His score was announced and Robin and I both cheered as loud as we could. He ended up with an 88, the highest score yet.

The rest of the competition was equally as intense, but we both knew that TL had at least 3rd place. After the everyone was finished, Peach did the honour of declaring the winners.

"Alright, it looks like everyone is done!" We have Palutena determining the final scores as I speak. Now, I'm sure you would all love to hear about what the prizes are, right?!" Peach yelled with enthusiasm. The crowd cheered in anticipation to see what their friends would be awarded with.

"The prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, as well as the Smasher who finished in the fasted time overall. The player who finished the fastest will be given the opportunity to create any sports-based activity. That may sound boring, but it can go as far as the imagination of the holder of said prize. 3rd place will be given the honours of deciding every meal or food related organization for 2 days. 2nd place will be granted access to the hot springs, and may throw one party with a guest list of up to 20 smashers on a night of their choice. 1st place will be able to bring any character from their home franchise into the smash mansion for 3 days!"

"Woah! That's sounds awesome!" I exclaimed. All of the prizes could be so useful.

"I know! Those prizes are insane!" Robin shouted, seeming beyond excited to see who won which prize and how they'd be used in the future.

"Now, who's ready to find out the winners of these prizes?!" Peach asked as several screams were heard from the smashers watching.

She skipped off the stage and retrieved an envelope containing the answers. "The prize for the fastest time goes to... Sheik!" Peach congratulated. He walked on to the stage as the crowed cheered and his face and score appeared on the screen behind him.

He smiled at Peach and thanked her, then walked over to take his place on stage.

"And in 3rd place, with 158 points is... Pit!" Peach said enthusiastically as he ran on stage.

"Yeah, Pit!" Robin and I both cheered for the brown haired boy. He looked so proud of himself, as we were of him. He hopped over by Sheik and shook his hand in a congratulatory manor.

"Alright, in second place with 161 points is... Toon Link!" He ran on stage with an expression of pure bliss on his face. I was ecstatic and made it known how happy I was for him. He got lots of applause from his friends in the crowd.

"And finally, in first place scoring 165 points is Link!" Peach announced as he joined her on stage. She draped a medal around his neck and grabbed his hand to hold it up to everyone. We all cheered for the victor; he deserved it. Link's performance was nearly flawless.

"Okay, everyone's prizes are going to be recorded and you may all claim them whenever you have decided on how you'd like to use them." Peach concluded.

I had nearly forgot about the prizes, I was so proud of my dear friend for doing such a good job. After all, he had the top single round score overall. I jumped out of my seat to congratulate him again as soon as they were dismissed. He ran up to me with a smile plastered on his face.

"You did so well! I can't believe you got second place!" I exclaimed as he hugged me. He let go and thanked me, seeming almost shocked at his own performance. "Do you have any ideas on when you're going to use your prize?" I asked, just as excited as he was.

"I'm not sure yet, I'm just amazed that I placed as high as I did!" TL seemed overwhelmed. "I'm a little tired, why don't we go back to my room and hang it for a little while before supper?" He asked.

"Sure!" I complied as we started walking back. I had forgot that I hadn't eaten lunch today. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't been eating much at all lately.

I hoped Toonie wasn't worried about me.


	4. New Feelings

Disclaimer: This chapter focuses on a side ship; the content is pretty suggestive, so beware? Just to be clear, Sheik is a transmale. (Pre-surgery and hormones.)

* * *

 **Chapter 4. New feelings.**

I skipped down to join the boy I had been admiring all day. He stood over beside the stage, reading the note giving details to his prize. "Hey, Sheik! You did incredible today!" I complimented. He turned around to see who spoke to him and looked surprized when he saw me.

"Oh, thank you Robin*." He replied kindly. Sheik acted a little different around me; it seemed like a good different though. He was usually calm and mysterious, but he was so much more alert and responsive around me. It's like nothing really affected him unless I was involved. It was cute.

"Do you have any thoughts on how you're going to use your reward?" I questioned respectfully. He glanced down at the piece of paper detailing his prize as he thought.

"I'm still uncertain; I have to speak with Princess Peach and go over the limitations. I have some thoughts though." He answered. I loved the way his voice sounded. Sheik rarely felt the need to speak, so I felt special whenever he talked with me.

"Okay, cool. I was planning on going to the lake today, you wanna come with me? We can talk about it; maybe I can help you decide." I suggested, smiling gleefully.

"Oh, uh... Alright." Sheik said, hiding his face with his hands in a subtle manner. "If you have any intentions on swimming shouldn't you get a swimsuit beforehand?" He reminded.

"Oh, right! We can just head up to my room first, sound good?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course." He answered as he started walking to the hall that lead to the rooms. I skipped up beside him and noticed him smile.

 _((Pov change))  
_  
I started walking towards the doors the would take us to the main hallway, which contained the rooms. I was unsure of how I felt about going with Robin*. It wasn't a bad thing, I just felt so different around her. Was it her cheerful attitude? The way she wore her hair? The way she was always making pleasant conversation with me? I wasn't sure. Whatever it was, I had never really felt like this about a girl before. I heard that same happy tone interrupt my questioning thoughts.

"Alright, I'll just be a second!" She said as she ran into her room. I leaned against the wall by her door and picked at my fingernails. It was something I did when I wasn't myself. She came back out, to my surprise in the same outfit.

"I thought you were getting changed?" I asked.

"I just got my bathing suit to bring with me. I didn't want to make you wait out here by yourself, Sheik!" She giggled as she headed back down the hallway. I followed behind her.

"So, you aren't going in the water?" She asked, looking over as we walked.

"I doubt it. I'm not really one to swim casually." I replied. I didn't mind for competitive purposes, but it wasn't something I would do just for the sake of swimming, especially around other people.

"Okay. What are you going to do if I go in?" She contradicted.

"I'll just sit on the rocks or something." I responded. I was never the type to feel left out; I didn't mind doing my own thing while others enjoyed themselves.

"Alright, but if you want to come with me I won't mind!" She added happily. I hid my face behind my hands to keep her from seeing me blush. Of all people, why was she doing this to me? We exited through the main doors and followed the path to the lake. It usually didn't take long to get there.

"Sheeeeeik, my legs are sore. Will you carry me the rest of the way?" I heard the young woman next to me ask. I looked over to meet deep brown eyes holding an innocent gaze.

"Uhh, sure?" I laughed awkwardly as I knelt down so she could climb on my back. I held on to her legs and she wrapped her arms gently around my neck. I was a little shaky just from being around such a stunning young woman, but hopefully she wouldn't pay much attention to it. I started walking, and smiling like an imbecile for reasons I couldn't quite comprehend.

She hummed some cheerful tunes that I didn't quite recognize, but they still sounded nice. She had a lovely voice; I imagine she could sing really well. After a few more minutes of walking and Robin* playing with my hair, we got to the Lake.

"Ooooh, the water looks so nice today!" She said cheerfully as I knelt down to let her climb off. The water did look nice, but I found myself admiring that same girl I had been thinking about since I first saw her this morning. I wasn't overly attracted to girls, or boys for that matter. I mean, I knew whether or not someone looked visually pleasing, but I never found myself compelled to look at someone. I examined her outfit as she walked around on the rocks. She wore her hair in a low ponytail, with her bangs elegantly to one side. She had a deep purple sweater on, with a black tank top underneath it. That, along with pale grey jeans, black ankle boots, and gold heart shaped earrings. She really was a beautiful girl.

"Well, I'm gonna get changed. Would you mind assisting me?" She walked over and gave me her towel. I started sweating, completely unknowing of what was going on.

"Wha- what do you mean by assist you?" I asked, worried. I was never bothered by seeing other girls in a state like this, but something about the thought of her made me feel strange. Not in a negative way, just something I've never felt before.

"I just need you to hold up a towel for me so if someone else comes, they don't see me. Is that okay?" She looked like she felt bad for asking me. I wasn't uncomfortable, I was just experiencing some new feelings.

"No, it's fine. I just didn't understand what you meant." I tried to keep myself calm, but it wasn't the easiest thing to do.

"Okay! Thank you Sheik!" She grabbed her change of clothes and got me to face the path we took and hold her towel up for her. I seen her slip out of her sweater in my peripheral vision and turned my head away. What was going on? It was only a girl! I've seen girls like this before, why is it so different with her?

I could tell she was putting on her swim top, and I had an urge to look at her. I kept my head turned, as hard as it was. What was going on? I wasn't a pervert or anything... I squeezed my eyes shut and kept my head averted to give her the respect she deserved. Frustrated with my feelings, I tried my hardest to block them out altogether.

After minutes of trying to diminish these awful thoughts, she was finished. I was relieved that she was dressed, but what she was wearing wasn't going to help my situation. She was in a grey and black bikini, with violet circular charms on the sides of the bottom, as well as joining the sides of the top.

Every time my eyes were drawn to her; she seemed to get more and more appealing. The way her eyes looked when she smiled, how her hair fell so gracefully. Even the way she walked, and how her hips curved into her waist. Robin* really was gorgeous. I went over near a flat rock to sit, hoping she would go submerge herself in the water so I could concentrate.

"Hey Sheik, are you feeling okay?" She walked over to join me on the stone I had laid on. I started to get anxious; I didn't want her to know what I was experiencing. What would she think of me?

"Uhhh, Yeah; Nothing is out of the ordinary." I lied as I backed away from her. I started to sweat a little, knowing she could obviously see through my act.

"You don't seem yourself, Sheik. You can tell me if something's wrong; I don't mind." She climbed into my lap and enveloped me with a comforting hug. She let go and took my left hand in hers.

"You're shaking..." She cautioned, looking at me with worry in her soft chocolate eyes. I couldn't lie to her.

"I- I'm just discovering some new things about myself." I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her what that meant.

"What do you mean, sweetheart? You can talk to me about it if you'd like to..." She persisted. I took a deep breath, and prepared for the worst.

"I think I'm developing some kind of attraction to you, Robin*..." I admitted, breaking eye contact with her. I felt her squeeze my hand lightly.

"Sheik… Can I kiss you?" She asked softly. I hesitated, but gave in to my trivial worrying.

"Go ahead." My breathing sped up, and I felt her fingertips meet my neck. She pushed my jaw towards her to make me look back at her. Before either of us could react, I felt the supple lips of the white haired woman meet my own.

She continued to kiss me and her hands trailed down to my chest. She pushed me down gently, and climbed on top of me. She had one of her hands keeping her up, and the other she brought up to run her fingers through my hair. My mind began to race, and I tried to keep my thoughts steady.

We broke apart, and she lifted herself off me. She looked at me with half lidded eyes, and smiled.

"I've liked you for a long time Sheik..." I propped myself up on my elbows to listen to what she had to say. "I'm glad you told me. Please don't hide things from me anymore, darling." I brought my hand up to let my fingers glide through her soft hair.

"I won't... I promise."

"Well, I don't know about you; but I'm going to swim. You can join me if you like." She said, sitting up and sliding off the rock. She walked over to a tree near the lake, and I followed curiously. She used elwind, and propelled herself onto a thick branch. She stepped carefully to the end of it and dove into the deeper part of the lake.

"Getting fancy, are we?" I laughed. I spotted another large rock in the water that I could sit on and talk with Robin*. I used vanish and appeared on the stone platform only feet away from her. I looked down to her and smirked. "Two can play at the game."

"I'll never get used to that." She giggled. "Are you sure you don't want to come in? You could always take your jeans off and put your legs in." She offered, pushing her wet hair out of her face.

"I suppose it would be nice, but I'd be sitting here in my boxers." I reminded.

"That's fine, I wouldn't mind. Even if anyone else came down here, they'd probably just assume they were shorts. Here, let me help you take them off." She said, pulling herself up and undoing my jeans.

"Uhh, okay... If you insist," I mumbled nervously. I moved my legs so she could take them off. She pulled my legs into the water as she slid back in. "See, Isn't it nice?" She asked happily while swimming around on her back. The water was a lovely temperature.

"Yeah, it is." I agreed. I was glad we came out here.

"Wait, we were supposed to talk about your prize weren't we?" I had forgotten about it, until she brought it up.

"Oh, right. I have an event to plan. Peach said that once I have an idea that I can just come to her for clarification." I informed.

"Do you have any ideas yet? I can think of some fun ones if you'd like to hear them." She added happily. I had given it some thought, but not enough to be able to make a wise decision.

"I'd like to base it around a sport or place that I like. I want it to take place at night, and have something to do with hiding or sneaking." I suggested.

"Oooh, that goes really well with one of my ideas! I was thinking some form of a team-based capture the flag to the death." She laughed. I liked her idea, Robin* was usually full of good ideas.

"It has a lot of potential. Although, how would we know who was on what team? I'd be too dark to see any uniforms." I reminded.

"Hmmm. We could use glow in the dark coloured paint! Why not just have everyone have an iconic item of clothing or something that would be their team colour. Since we couldn't see them, that would help us figure out who they were as well." She recommended in a cheerful manner.

"That does sound quite fun. How about we bring it to Peach later today? I'm sure she'd agree to it. The three of us could make up teams and divide everyone equally based on their abilities." I offered.

"Sounds great! I'm really excited. I can't wait to see how the smashers react; I bet they'll love our idea." She exclaimed.

"I'm sure they'll all be very intrigued." She swam up to me and rested her elbows on my knees.

"I'm really happy we hung out today, Sheik. Even though the sun is already down, I still don't want to leave." She looked up at me and pouted. The sun only set about a half hour ago, meaning it was around 8:30.

"It's not that late, we can still stay for a bit: but we should head back within the next twenty minutes." I stated. She was oddly quiet for a few seconds.

"Sheik..." She muttered, looking over at the water.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I want to do before we leave." My eyes met hers and I was faced an expression I've never seen her make.

"What's that...?" I asked, cautiously. I felt her hand slide up my thigh and stopped at my waist. She dipped her fingertips into the waistband of my boxers and slid them down, stopping once my hip bones were exposed. I glanced down to see her looking at me for approval.

"It's alright Robin*; I don't mind."

 _((Pov change))  
_  
We both lied on a flat rock, and Sheik had me in his embrace. I don't know how long we were there, but I'd say it was close to 8:45.

"We should probably leave soon. Princess Peach is going to be worried about us if we aren't back by nine." He said shyly. I didn't want to leave, but I knew we had to. Maybe I could sneak him into my room for the night to snuggle some more.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm not going to bother getting changed, I'll just walk up in this. It's not that cold anyway." I stated, swimming back to where I laid my towel. I walked up and used it to dry myself, as Sheik appeared beside me from a cloud of smoke. He picked up my clothes and folded them neatly.

"I'll carry these back up for you." He offered, stacking them so he could carry them under his arm.

"Thank you, Sheik." I leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Guess we should be heading back." I muttered, starting to walk towards the path we took. He followed behind me and I extended my arm to hold his free hand once he was close to me. I heard his stomach growl as we were walking.

"You hungry, sweetheart?" I asked kindly.

"A bit. We did miss supper while we were out here." He pointed out.

"We can just order room service from the Luma's once we get back." I assured. We probably wouldn't get a full meal, just something to satisfy us until breakfast.

"Alright. Should we tell Peach about our idea at breakfast tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah, it'd be a good time." I answered. She'd be happy to hear from us in advance.

"Hey, Robin*..." He trailed off his words.

"Hm?" I mumbled, looking at him.

"What should we tell the other smashers if they ask why we were gone for such a long time period?" He brought forth. I thought for a second about an excuse.

"We'll just say we were swimming and talking about what to do with the prize you won. To be fair, that is what we were doing; for the most part." I smirked.

We stopped walking as we approached the doors. He put his hands on my sides and kissed me on the forehead before we entered. I smiled, content with how things went. I thought my excuse was fairly believable. Besides, they don't need to know what _really_ happened anyway.


	5. Comfort from Toon Link

**Chapter 5. Comfort from Toon Link.**

I wondered what Toonie had planned for us to do once we got back to his room. I'd probably ask him what he wanted to do with regards to the hot spring event; it sounded like it could be a lot of fun.

"Hey, Ness; did you hear if we have anything else scheduled for today?" He asked. Other than practice, nothing that I had heard of.

"We have supper at 5-ish, and Peach was telling me there's going to be smash practice this evening at 7." I answered politely.

"Oh, okay. I had only planned on talking and possibly kicking butt in Mario Party. Maybe later I could invite the Villagers over and we could do doubles against them. That sound okay?" He questioned.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him exactly how I was feeling, but I didn't mind talking. "Sure, whatever you want to do." I concluded as we approached his room.

He opened the door and sat on his bed to take off his sweater. He had a lime green v-neck with the notes from some song called the winds requiem on it. "Sit wherever you want. Some of my video games are on the Wii U, and the rest are in that pile over there. Feel free to look around for something that spikes your interests." He offered as he was cleaning up his clothes off the floor.

He wasn't overly messy, but not what people would call tidy either. He took all his clothes into the other room to throw in the laundry basket.

I turned on the console to look through his games. He had the basic ones, and some I didn't recognize. Mario Kart Double Dash, Kirby's epic yarn, Ocarina of time, Duck Hunt, Megaman 2, Starfox 64, Banjo Kazooie, Animal Crossing, I knew some of them, but many were single player.

"Hey, Ness; I've been trying some of the Megaman games recently, you wanna go turn for turn on them while we talk or whatever?"

"Yeah, sounds fun!" I said, sitting on the bed in front of the tv with TL. He sat on a pillow on the floor and he went to his last restore point, where he resumed half way through the fight with a brown coloured boss with leaves around it.

"jesUS WOOD MAN!" Toon Link practically shrieked trying to resume the game from where he left off, dying almost immediately.

"Why would you save there, of all places?" I laughed.

"Because I was doing really well and I had more health than him!" Toonie grumbled at the pixelated sprite on the screen. "I'll play for a while so you can see what the game is like and get the hang of it. Every time you beat a boss, you get the power they used against you, and those powers can weaken other bosses." Toon Link informed.

"Oh, cool." I said as he explained. He re-tried the fight against Wood Man, and he beat him on the second try. "Good job, Toonie!" I congratulated.

"Thanks! Now I get leaf shield, which is a move that Megaman uses in smash practice; it's his down special. I think this one is good against Air Man." He said, as Megaman changed to a green and white palette on screen. He went into the Air Man stage, and demonstrated the abilities that he had.

He had metal blade, lead bubble and leaf shield. I recognized metal blade, because of how irritating it was to defend against during practice. I could absorb his charge shot, but everything else had to be hit back with my baseball bat. It wasn't overly hard, but it got a little repetitive after a while with all of his projectiles.

"Here, Ness; you can try. This stage is a little tough, but it's really fun." I took the controller from him, giving him a look of 'you're gonna regret passing me this gamepad'. I ran back and forth, jumped around and shot a few times trying to get used to how the game handled. I got the hang of it after a couple seconds and started progressing.

"Ness, you know earlier today when you were with me practicing for the competition?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah...?" I responded, trying to divide my attention to my friend and the little blue protagonist on screen.

"...Would you mind telling me what it was that was bothering you?" He scooted towards me; seeming worried. I fell off screen after being hit with a little orange lightning bolt. I passed the controller back to him, hesitating before speaking.

"I've just felt a little... Detached, from my friends. I feel like I'm not really a first choice, and that I'm more of a backup plan. I don't mean you guys aren't paying attention to me, It just seems like my friends could always be doing something better." I admitted weakly.

"Oh; I'm sorry, Ness. It's just not easy to pay a lot of attention to one person when we have so many of us in the smash mansion. I promise you; all of us appreciate your company. Even though it can be a little hectic, we all care for you and your happiness. We had just thought you wanted time to yourself; we'll make sure to include you in everything for now on, okay?" Toonie sounded like he felt really awful. He had kept trying to face me while he was speaking, which cost him some health.

"Thank you, Toon Link. I'm glad you understand and care so much." I said to him.

"It's just so unlike you to be sad like this..." He put the controller down and hugged me.

"I know, it's new for me too." I hugged the slightly smaller body in return.

"I really don't want you to be sad, Ness. If anything like this bothers you, come and tell me right away." He let go of me and looked me in the eyes.

"I will, Toonie; don't worry. I trust you." I assured. He picked the gamepad up and un-paused the game.

"You just mean a lot to me, and all of us for that matter. None of us want you to be sad, and none of us want you to hide it from us." He continued. I could tell he was serious just by his tone. He sounded really upset for not noticing this earlier.

"It's okay Toonie, I promise. Hey, why don't we finish up this boss and then you can invite the Villagers over? That'll cheer us up." I patted him on the back reassuringly. I didn't want him to think he was a bad friend.

"Alright, I'm about three quarters of the way through." He perked up a little when I said that. He continued to jump along pink platforms that dispersed enemies from the sides. He only took a few hits before he got to what looked like the end of the level.

"Air Man is in this room. We'll return here if we die against the boss, but I'm going to make a restore point anyhow."

"Taking the easy way out?" I laughed. He shot me a glare as his finger hovered over the restore point area on screen.

"Is that a challenge, Ness?" He asked competitively.

"Do you think you can do it?" I countered jokingly.

"Of course I can. I was just trying to be safe. I'll prove it!" He defended, running into the boss room. He had nearly full health and was suited in green for the fight.

"Didn't you say Air Man was a hard fight?" I giggled at him struggling.

"Yeah, but I can still do it!" He dodged several tornadoes on screen but could never get close enough to land a hit.

"FRICK!" He shouted as the little green man exploded upon a hit from a small tornado. He continued, but he was a little hesitant because this was his last life.

"You don't have to try to impress me, I understand if you want to create a save state." I nudged him in the shoulder. "Come on, I'm not gonna think any less of you if you save your game."

"No way! I can do it, I just wasn't ready. The sun was in my eyes!" He shouted in frustration.

"It's cloudy today, Toon Link." I laughed. He was always so cocky; never in a serious way though.

"Well, whatever." He giggled to himself as he trekked back into the boss room. I watched carefully, as he was on his last life against a tough boss. He started off really well, avoiding most of his attacks and landing a hit in the first opening. I stayed quiet to allow him to concentrate.

"Oh no, I'm almost out of leaf shield!" Air Man still had some health, but he could probably still finish him off. TL's health bar was a little above half, so if he was careful he could pull it off. "Damn it!" He yelled as he missed the last hit with leaf shield.

"You can do it, he's almost dead!" I encouraged. He avoided all his shots but one, and got close enough to land the last few hits, which he ended up succeeding in.

"Yeah!" Toon Link stood up and jumped on the bed, dancing around with gamepad. "Who's the best robot fighter ever? Toon Link is!" He started jumping around as the spite on screen changed to blue and white.

"Be careful!" I laughed, standing up and taking the gamepad so he wouldn't drop it.

"Did you see that Ness! I was so good; I kicked butt. He didn't even stand a chance!" He bragged sarcastically. He demonstrated a roundhouse kick, nearly falling off the bed. I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"Yeah yeah, you're sooooo good. How about you get off your throne so we can go get the Villagers to play Mario party?" It was getting close to 4:00, and supper was at 5:00. We'd have enough time to play a short game.

"Oh, right." He hopped off the bed and stumbled into his dresser. I snickered at him.

"Hey, don't laugh at me! I'm tough, I can take it." He put his hands on his hips and stuck out his chest. I raised my eyebrows and shook my head.

"Let's just go, you dork." I started walking towards the door to go find our friends. He ran past me, swinging the door open and bounding down the hallway.

"I bet I can race you there!" I heard him yell from halfway up the hall. Sometimes I think he underestimates how athletic I am. I started running behind him, and caught up within a few seconds. He saw that I was behind him and shrieked, as I tackled him to the ground just in front of the Villager's room. He wriggled out from under my arms, that I had him pinned with.

"We came out here to get the Villagers, not wrestle in the hallway!" He shook his finger at me jokingly as I got back up. He knocked on the door and Villager* answered.

"Hello, Ness! Hi, TL! What are you guys doing here?" She answered happily.

"Hey! We were just wondering if you and Villager wanted to play Mario party with us before we go to supper?" Toonie asked.

"I'd love to! Just hang on, I'll go ask Villager." She scurried into the other room to find him. Toon Link and I could hear her talking, but we didn't really eavesdrop. The two came back out after a little bit. "He said he'll play! Your room, Toon Link?" She asked as they came out to join us in the hallway.

"Yup!" He confirmed as he headed back up the hallway to his room. I followed, along with the two Villagers. We got back shortly, and we all gathered in front of the TV.

"Hey TL, what Mario party are we playing?" Villager asked.

"Mario party 8!" He answered, pulling it from a pile and putting the disk in the Wii U.

"Dibs on Boo!" He shouted, grabbing the first player Wii remote. I had second, Villager* had third, and Villager had fourth. We got to the player select screen and I chose Yoshi.

"Oh cool! I didn't know Toad was in this game!" Villager exclaimed as he picked him. Toonie was Boo, I was Yoshi, Villager* was Princess Daisy and Villager was toad.

We started a short team party on the Shy Guy map. It was a pretty normal game, with Toon Link and Villager screaming at each other for stealing coins from each other; and Villager* winning almost all the mini games.

I was mostly collecting coins from second place in mini games and other stuff around the board, while TL kept landing on red spaces. Team Villager was winning, up until Toon Link was warped to the star with just barely enough coins to get it.

"Yeah! Eat that Villager!" Toon Link bragged.

"We're still tied. It all depends on bonus stars!" Villager shouted in excitement. We went to the final screen where we were given bonus stars. Toonie got the red space star, and Villager* got the minigame star, and I got the running star.

"That still leaves us at 4 stars each..." I brought forth.

"It'll have to be decided by coins!" Villager pointed out. The last screen counted everything up slowly, and the Villagers won by 12 coins.

"NOOOO! Ness you've failed me!" Toonie whined. "At least I still have my good looks."

"That was super fun!" Villager* added. I really enjoyed hanging out with them. It was 4:45, so we should probably go to the cafeteria soon.

"It's almost supper time, should we walk down now?" I suggested. TL looked over at the clock and nodded.

"I have to clean up, so I'll just do that and I'll meet the rest of you down there." Toonie said, heading over to the pile of games.

"Alright, we'll head back to our room and see you guys at supper!" Villager said, heading out. TL and I seen them off and thanked them for coming over.

"I'm gonna head down now and save us some spots, okay?" I asked on my way into the hallway.

"Yeah, sure! I'll be out in a few minutes." I heard him call to me as I walked down the hall. I got to the stairwell and seen Pit at the bottom. I went down and greeted him.

"Hey, Pit. Congrats on your 3rd place victory by the way." He turned to face me and perked up upon seeing who I was.

"Hi, Ness! Thanks, that's why I'm here early. I get to decide what we have for supper!" He said with excitement.

"Oh, cool! What did you have in mind?" I questioned. Pit had fairly good taste, so the next little while was going to be interesting in the cafeteria.

"I really wanted to have spaghetti made with M-tomatoes and cheesecake for dessert. A weird combination, I know." He giggled to himself.

"It's not that weird. As long as you don't physically combine the two, it sounds like a really great supper." I commented.

"Yeah, I'm gonna try to give us some cool meals. By the way, would you mind if I sat with you?" He asked. I'm sure Toon Link and the others wouldn't mind.

"Sure. I have to save seats for TL and the Villagers as well though, as long as you don't mind." I headed towards the cafeteria with the winged boy following me. Pit and I choose our seats and waited for the others, who showed up a couple minutes later.

"Hey, Ness! Pit's gonna sit with us?" Toon Link questioned as he skipped over to sit next to me.

"Yeah. I met him in the hall and he asked to join us. I didn't figure you guys would mind."

"No, of course not. More people to throw food at!" TL said, smiling. Villager came over, with Villager* and Megaman behind him; they were walking up holding hands. Those two were such a cute couple.

"Hey guys, did you hear? We're having spaghetti today!" Megaman said gleefully.

"Spaghetti? Hell yeah!" Toon Link fist pumped and danced around in his seat.

"That would be my doing." Pit laughed awkwardly. "My reward was deciding what we eat for the next couple days."

"Oh, yeah. Good job today! Villager* congratulated.

"Yeah, you have good taste in meals; I've been craving spaghetti for a while. I'm sure Mario and Luigi will appreciate this as well." Megaman pointed out.

We chatted about his plans for dessert for a few minutes, then the Luma's arrived with our supper. I stole some of Toon Links food and he shot me a sarcastic glare.

"I will throw a meatball at you." He picked one up and drew his arm back.

"Alright, let's not start this today!" Pit grabbed TL's arm and placed it back on the table.

"Fine. Hey, Ness; what time did you say practice was?" Toon Link asked between bites. I had nearly forgot about it.

"There's practice today?" Villager asked, as he looked up from his plate. I guess the others hadn't heard yet.

"Yeah, it's at 7 tonight. Peach will announce it beforehand anyhow." I answered. I wasn't really feeling up to it, but we'd have to go.

Hopefully how my mood has been lately wouldn't affect my ability to fight this evening.


	6. Forgotten

**Chapter 6. Forgotten  
**  
Supper went by faster than I had thought it would. It was mostly Toon Link threatening people with meatballs, and people arguing about which type of cheesecake is the best. Everyone really enjoyed their meal. The cheesecake was very well made, and it was an elegant feeling meal. It's hard to find anything elegant when TL is trying to throw it at me, but it was still nice.

"Attention everyone; this is Princess Peach. I'm here to inform you that there will be a smash practice tonight at seven. Everyone must be there, and if you can't show then we require a valid explanation why. See you then!" We heard Peach declare through the PA system.

"Huh. Sounds fun!" Megaman exclaimed.

"I hope I get put against you so I can kick your butt." Villager* said poking Megaman in the face.

"Oh, I don't know about that." He blushed softly and kissed her on the forehead. Toon Link looked over at them with a disgusted expression.

"Ugh. You guys and your cuddly kissy stuff." Toonie sighed.

"What's wrong with it? I think they're cute together." I brought forth. TL wasn't really the one to enjoy affection. He looked at me, and jumped into my lap to snuggle himself into my neck.

"Oooh, Ness; I hope we get paired up together so I can spend time with my handsome boyfriend~!" He nuzzled into my chest and started making kissy noises. "See? It gets annoying sometimes." He got back into his seat and folded his arms. That was odd, admittedly. I shook off the slight feeling of discomfort.

"It's not that bad. You just aren't used to being around people in relationships." Pit pointed out.

"Well, it's still all lovey and gross." He mumbled.

"I'm gonna go get changed before practice. I'll see you guys there." I said, standing up to head back.

"Okay, Ness; See you!" Pit said to me as I headed off. I went up to my room, and checked the schedule before getting dressed. Tomorrow was rest day, so it wold be kinda boring. I sighed, and went over to my dresser. I put on shorts and a lighter shirt, so it would be easier to move. I was back downstairs in the training room by 6:55, and I saw Robin, Pit and Marth all standing together. Robin greeted me as the two were fighting over something.

"Hey, ready for practice?" He asked as I walked up.

"Yeah, ready enough." I looked over to see Marth looking smug, and Pit looking embarrassed.

"I think it would look cute." Marth smirked at him.

"It would not! You can already see enough of me in these shorts!" Pit shot back.

"I'd be able to get a better view of your ass." Marth grinned, as he moved over to grab Pit's by his backside.

"Marth!" Pit brought his hands back to hide himself; as he blushed furiously. Robin and I giggled at Pit's reaction.

"Marth wanted pit to wear his shorts without his little skirt thing. Pit didn't really like that idea, but Marth is being pretty persistent." He explained, since I didn't get the whole conversation.

"Aha, I see." The guys were always picking at each other like that. I sat with Robin as we waited for the chambers to open.

Smash practice was organized quite well. We each had a little cylinder shaped dome with our name on it, and we would all stand in them; as we waited to be teleported to our stages. Today was 1v1 practice. Two opponents would be randomly chosen to fight each other, and they would be warped to a stage to fight on. The rest of us would watch on the community flat screen TV suspended on the wall. There would be 3 rounds of matches, where 8 two-on-two fights would go on at the same time. Anyone who wasn't fighting could watch whichever fight they wanted.

Every Sunday we would have a tournament, where we would do a tourney bracket to determine the list of the best fighters. This was often called a tier list. Tiers generally stay the same, but change slightly every tournament based on how they ranked. I was fairly high on the list, but the best were Yoshi, Rosalina and Sheik; with Pikachu and myself just below them.

Our chambers lit up and opened at 7:00 sharp; we all went into them and waited. Peach stood along with Wii Fit Trainer with her clipboard checking to see that everyone was there.

"Where are Bowser and Ganondorf?" She looked around, but none of us saw them. She checked to see that everyone else was there as she waited for them. It was 7:02 when the two showed up.

"I'm here, Peachy. Chill out." Bowser complained as he staggered over to his chamber. Ganondorf went to his with a displeased expression.

Peach hopped into hers, and instructed Wii Fit Trainer to start. She was the only person who didn't fight, but she organized the fighting events.

The doors closed as some of the chambers lit up, implying that they were going to fight. Mine stayed dim, so I wasn't going to be fighting this round. The doors re-opened, and the screens showed who was fighting who. I stepped out to sit and watch.

The screen read the 16 competitors:

Peach vs Charizard  
Mr. Game and Watch vs Luigi  
Link vs Captain Falcon  
Pikachu vs Little Mac  
Fox vs Donkey Kong  
Sonic vs Lucario  
Ike vs Kirby  
Meta Knight vs Palutena

Not many of my friends were playing, so I half-watched the match between Ike and Kirby. Kirby fought very well against Ike. Although Ike was strong, he could hardly land any hits on Kirby because of how fast he was. Kirby won, but the match was fairly close.

The winners of the matches were Peach, Mr. Game and Watch, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, Fox, Lucario, Kirby, and Palutena.

We all re-entered our chambers as the matches ended and the others were teleported back. They all stepped out, as they were done for the day. Our doors shut, and the rest of us waited to see if we were in this round. Some chambers lit up and some didn't, mine being one that didn't. This meant I wasn't in until the last round.

The smashers in round two were all teleported to a stage as the doors opened again. The contestants for the second round appeared on screen; and I stepped out, seeing that several of my close friends were fighting.

Oilmar vs Zelda  
Marth vs Pac-Man  
Robin vs Greninja  
Villager vs Pit  
Megaman vs Toon Link  
Falco vs Lucina  
Ganondorf vs Samus  
Robin* vs Wario

I was interested in seeing the matches between Pit and Villager, and Megaman and TL. There was going to be a lot I would be paying attention to, but I kept my eyes mainly between matches 4 and 5. Villager had a good lead on Pit the whole time, and at the end Pit was stage spiked. The projectiles between Toon Link and Megaman caused a stalemate for the most part, but Toonie took the match right at the end with the benefit of the sword. It showed the winners of round two after everyone finished.

Most of my friends reigned victorious, which I was proud of. The winners were Zelda, Marth, Robin, Villager, Toon Link, Falco, Samus and Robin*.

I got back into my chamber and awaited my fight as the others got back. I looked to see who my competition was, and I wasn't overly pleased. A lot of the high tier characters were still left, and I wasn't feeling the greatest today. We were teleported to our stages and faced with our rivals.

I looked down to see Mute City, and a galactic princess stood before me. The match began and I knew I was in trouble. Today wasn't my day, and Rosalina was an amazing fighter.

She used her Luma to her advantage, which I tried to take out first. Whenever I got rid of the Luma, I hardly landed any hits because I couldn't concentrate. Whenever her friend returned, I couldn't get close enough to attack. I lost really badly, not even taking out a stock. We were teleported back and seen the results.  
It showed all the other rounds, which I looked at.

Jigglypuff vs Mario  
Dark pit vs Duck Hunt  
Sheik vs Bowser  
Yoshi vs Rob  
Shulk vs Bowser Jr  
King Dedede vs Diddy Kong  
Rosalina vs Ness  
Dr. Mario vs Villager*

The winners weren't very surprising, except many were surprized at how poorly I fought. I was usually a very tough opponent, even against someone like Rosalina; one of the best in the Smash Mansion. I had hoped not many people would question me about it.

The winners were Mario, Dark Pit, Sheik, Rosalina, Yoshi, Shulk, Diddy Kong and Villager*.

Practice was over, and I started walking back to my room. I felt pretty awful; I had just humiliated myself in front of everyone. I was almost to my room when I was stopped by a voice behind me.

"Ness, wait." I turned to be faced with Rosalina again. "May I speak with you?" I sighed. I figured she would have known something was going on.

"I guess so..." She looked down and frowned at me. I could tell she had seen right through me when we fought. She patted my shoulder and led me to her room. I didn't say anything until she pointed me in and closed the door. I sat on her bed and her little yellow Luma came up to me; probably knowing I was sad as well. He sat on my lap and I patted his head.

"Ness..." She spoke to me before turning around slowly; removing her hands from the door.

"Yeah?" I responded. She looked to me with worry in her comforting blue eyes.

"Something is wrong, isn't it...?" She came towards me and sat in her rocking chair, another Luma joining her. This one was a dark grey. I didn't say anything for a moment, but I knew things would be a lot easier if I told her.

"Yeah..." I shouldn't have been this upset, I had my friends with me all day! Why did I still feel this empty? I felt like I was being selfish. So I lost a fight, it's not like it hasn't happened before! I practically broke down in front of her.

"Shhhh, it's okay sweetheart." She walked up to me and held me. Two other green and red Lumas came up to support me as well. "Would you mind telling me why you feel this way?" She sat by the bed with her arm around me keeping me close. I knew she would be understanding.

"I've just... I feel like my friends don't really want me around. It doesn't seem like I'm all that important to them; I seem boring compared to the rest of them. They're always in such big groups, and it doesn't really seem like they need me there." I took my hat off and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. The yellow Luma made a noise of worry, so I held him closely.

"You are important Ness, it just may seem like they don't need you because there are so many of us here in the Smash Mansion. We all care about each other, and we would be devastated if anything happened to you. I care about you, so do all my Lumas and the others here. You saw how worried everyone gets when we notice you behaving differently." She ran her fingers through my hair and pushed my chin up so I looked at her.

"Thank you, Rosalina. It's just hard when it seems like everyone has someone that they're always with." I muttered. I felt a little bit better; she was so comforting.

"I know, darling. I have my Luma's, but sometimes it feels like they're all that I have. There's times when Princess Peach and Palutena are busy, as well as the rest of the girls. I still understand that I'm important to them." She said, insuring that things would be okay.

"It's just been tough since we moved to Mansion Four. Ever since we left the Brawl Mansion, I haven't had the blonde boy to hang out with." I recalled, missing his company.

I couldn't even remember his name. It had been years since I seen him; as well as many of my other friends. The Pokémon Trainer, the smaller pokemon that looked like Pikachu, a whole bunch of them. I don't know why they didn't come with us. There was so many of us that didn't make the cut into the new Mansion.

I was such good friends with that boy; and now I hardly remember who he was. Rosalina wasn't in the third Mansion, so she wouldn't know him.

He was so scared on the first day. I remember coming up to him and showing him around. He really needed someone that day, and I was the only one he wasn't afraid of. I still remember holding him while he cried after the bullies tried to hurt him. I really wish he was still here.

"Ness...?" Rosalina's soft voice broke me from my memories.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" I asked. I had completely missed what she said.

"I had asked you who the blonde boy was. Were you thinking about him?" She looked at me through curious eyes.

"Yeah, I was just trying to remember what his name was. We were really close in Mansion Three; but he left when we moved here. He was a shy boy who needed a friend, and I was given that opportunity. You wouldn't know him." I said softly.

"I may not know him, but it seems like he was important to you..." She pointed out.

"He was important to me. He needed me, but I didn't realize that maybe I needed someone like him too." I felt myself start to cry.

I was always the strong one between the two of us. I was the one who wiped away his tears. I was the one who protected him when he was scared. I can't believe it's been so long since I saw him. I didn't realize how close we were until now.

"Darling, please don't cry. I have something that might cheer you up." She got up and went to another room. She walked back, holding a small blue container.

"What's this?" I asked, as the woman handed it to me.

"Open it. That's not all I have, either." She insisted. I opened it, revealing small, coloured, candy-looking things.

"Are these... Star bits?" I poured some into my hands.

"Yes, you can eat them. They taste like honey, and remind me of my home. They're very special to me, and they calm me down if I'm upset. I would eat them when I was reminded of my family." She said gently.

"This is very nice of you..." I thanked her for all that she'd done.

"No need to thank me; as long as you're okay. Princess Peach told me something this morning that may make you feel better." She brought forth. I had already felt a lot better about today, but I was curious as to what she wanted to tell me.

"There are four new fighters arriving tomorrow afternoon."


	7. One new Face, Three Recovered Memories

**Chapter 7. One new Face, Three Recovered Memories.**

"New fighters? What do you mean?!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Princess Peach told me that her and Master Hand were discussing the return of some of the lost fighters. They decided on four that would be invited in, and they contacted them all this morning. There are three returning and one newcomer." She smiled at my reaction.

Did that mean...?

"Did you hear any of the names?" I asked hastily.

"Unfortunately, no. But who knows..." She said as she trailed off across the room.

"Maybe you'll make a new friend." She smiled. I sat there, hardly able to process what she had told me.

"What time are they getting here?" I questioned desperately. Rosalina giggled as she walked to the door.

"I don't know, Sweetie; we'll find out sometime tomorrow. You should get ready for bed. It's going to be a big day, and it's already 8:45." She reminded.

"R-right..." I got up, said goodbye to her and the Luma's, and headed to my room. Once I got there, I went inside and closed the door; I sat on my bed, still in complete and utter shock.

 ** __** _Three returning and one newcomer..._

It was crazy; I was insane to think he would be back. What are the chances of it being him? There were so many fighters that everyone adored over the years. There was the other swordsman that used to hang around Marth, the other two Pokemon that fought with Charizard, and the two kids in the pink and purple snowsuit things. It could be any of them.

I got into my pyjamas and got ready to go to bed. It had been a ridiculously long day, I needed rest. I climbed into bed, still thinking about tomorrow. All I could do was hope there would be someone to talk to.

I woke up the next morning at 9:00, and lied there until I remembered what day it was. New Smashers today! I didn't have the greatest sleep in the world, which caused me to nearly roll onto the floor trying to get up. I staggered over to my dresser to get dressed and look at the schedule.

It was Thursday, which was rest day. We could do whatever we wanted on rest day, but most of us just made our own little games to play with our friends. Since there was nothing scheduled today, it was a good day for the new smashers to arrive.

I don't know why I was so excited; I doubt it would even be him. Not many of the other smashers liked him, because he was so shy. I really hoped someone would show up that I could hang out with. No matter what, I still need to look decent today. I rooted through my dresser and pulled out my tan shorts, along with my white shirt with red sleeves. I went to the bathroom to fix my hair and brush my teeth, before heading off to find one of my friends to eat breakfast with.

I started walking to the cafeteria, and met Shulk coming out of his room.  
"Morning!" He greeted me when he saw me.

"Hey, Shulk! You heading to breakfast too?" I asked as we walked.

"Yeah. Link is there with Ike, Pit, and Marth; they wanted me to eat with them. You wanna come sit with us?" He asked kindly.

"Sure, I was looking for someone to eat with." I laughed awkwardly. I felt like I'd be a little out of place there, but at least I had Pit, and Shulk was quite nice to me. We made polite conversation as the two of us made our way to the cafeteria.

"Oh, I meant to tell you; I think Pit requested French toast and a pancake buffet for breakfast this morning!" Shulk said as we approached the cafeteria doors. We went in, and we saw that all the tables had several different types of pancake toppings. Pit and Ike waved to us as we entered.

"Hey, guys; it's pancake day again!" Ike shouted holding up a fork with 4 pieces of different flavoured of pancake on it. He shoved it all in his mouth and patted the seats in front of us.

"Again? Not that I'm arguing, but why two days in a row?" I asked Pit, laughing at Ike's opinion on breakfast.

"Because I wanted cinnamon chocolate chip pancakes, so I requested a customizable buffet! There's french toast as well if you're really that picky." Pit stuffed more pancakes in his mouth.

Shulk looked at me and giggled, as he pulled out chairs for us to sit. Kirby hopped over to ask us what we wanted, and we put in our orders, to have him return within minutes.

Shulk had French toast and I had cinnamon topped pancakes with whip cream. Link and Marth smeared whip cream over each others faces, and Ike ate their pancakes while they weren't looking. Shulk was the only respectful smasher at our table; who just ate his breakfast without disturbing any of us.

After I ate, I went outside and found Toon Link, Sheik, and the two Robins playing around in the basketball court. Toonie and Sheik were sat on the side, so I walked over to join them.

"Hello, Ness. Do you want to watch Robin and Robin* play 21 with us? They're competing to see who is the better Robin." Sheik said as I went towards them.

"Sure, I will for a bit. I have some stuff to ask Peach later." I said respectfully, sitting next to him. Robin was ahead by a few points, but I didn't have a very good reference for how much of a lead he had. Baseball was my sport, more so than basketball. I still had a lot on my mind, so I didn't pay much attention.

Robin ended up winning, and then challenging Sheik after. I stuck around to see that matchup, which was quite interesting; Sheik and Robin were both very well suited rivals. Sheik pulled ahead at the end, giving him victory. He was crowned the champ of basketball by Robin* afterwards.

"I'm gonna head off now, it was good seeing you guys." I started to get up when I was cut off be Robin*.

"Oh, by the way; Princess Peach is in her office with Master Hand. They won't mind if you go talk to them; Sheik and I were there earlier." She smiled, as I trotted off to find Peach.

I went up the downstairs hallway, to the more important rooms. I passed a few storage rooms and other offices, until I got to Peach's. I knocked on the door and poked my head in.

"Hello, Ness! Do you need something?" She asked as she invited me in. Master Hand must have left, because it was only her and Wii Fit Trainer in her office. Peach was filling out some sort of paperwork while drinking tea, and Wii Fit Trainer was sitting on a cabinet looking through files.

"Yeah, actually. I was just wondering; I had heard that there were new fighters getting here today, and I wanted to know when they were coming." I looked at the papers on Peach's desk, which appeared to be applications.

"Oh, the new smashers! We'll announce it before they arrive. I'm guessing you heard from Rosalina." Peach giggled, rearranging the papers scattered on her desk.

"We had just wanted to keep it a surprise. We don't mind if you know, but since it's a rest day we figured we could surprise everyone with some new fighters." Wii Fit Trainer added.

"Oh, I see. So I'm not allowed to know any names?" Peach and Wii Fit Trainer looked at each other.

"We won't say names, but they will be arriving between 10:15 and 11:00." Peach informed.

"We're going to have a reveal presentation in the auditorium when they get here. You'll like it." Wii Fit Trainer assured.

"Anyhow, it's 9:55 now, so we should get ready to meet them. Run along now, Ness. Don't tell anyone else!" Peach ordered as she motioned for me to leave.

I left her office and went to find Rosalina again. I looked around outside to see 3 Luma's in the pool, so I figured Rosalina couldn't be far. I ran over, and sure enough; she was sunbathing with Palutena while the Luma's swam.

"Rosalina!" I shouted as I approached. She looked up from under her sunglasses. Palutena waved to me, and gestured for me to join them.

"Hello, Ness! How was your sleep last night?" She must have known I was waiting impatiently.

"Not that great. I had too much to think about." I sat down in the chair next to Rosalina.

"Is something the matter, Ness?" Palutena asked, sitting up in the reclined chair.

"Uhhh, well..." I looked over at Palutena. I figured she probably knew, but I had to stay faithful to Peach and Wii Fit Trainer.

"Oh, Palutena knows about it." I don't know how, but Rosalina could always tell what you were thinking.

"Knows about what?" She looked back over at us.

"The new fighters. I was telling Ness about it yesterday." She directed towards the woman next to her. Rosalina smiled, then looked back at me. "Her and I are close with Peach, so she usually keeps us in the loop of what's going on."

"Oh, okay. Sorry, Peach just told me to keep it quiet." I said, embarrassed.

"It's nothing, Sweetie. I'll give you two your privacy." She got up and walked over to Rosalina. "I'll be with Samus in the Soccer field if you need me." She kissed her lightly on the side of her face, and left. Rosalina smiled at me, and gestured towards the chair.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you. I'm just really impatient, and my other friends might know something is going on based on how I'm acting." I laughed awkwardly as I sat down.

"It's fine, Ness. Palutena understands, and we were only sunbathing." She reassured. I was silent for a second.

"Do you think it'll be him?" I asked weakly.

"Who, the blonde boy you mentioned last night?" She rolled over to face me and took her sunglasses off.

"Yeah... Him." I looked down. I wasn't sure what I'd do if it wasn't. I hated the thought of never seeing him again. What if we don't move out of this Mansion? What if we stay so long that I forget him?

"I'm not sure, Ness. Even if it isn't him, just remember that you aren't alone. I will always be here for you, and I can list many others who care about your well-being in this Mansion." I smiled. I tried not to get my hopes up, just in case.

"Thank you." I suddenly felt a lot happier than I was over the past few days.

"Did you speak with Peach about who was coming?" I was shaken from my personal moment by Rosalina.

"I did, but she wouldn't tell me any names. She said they'd have a reveal presentation in the auditorium once all of them are here. They're supposed to be arriving between 10:15 and 11:00." I was surprised I remembered all of that.

"Well, it's 10:25 now. She told me there would be an announcement before the presentation, so how about we just stay here until then? I'll make sure we don't miss anything, don't worry." She offered.

"Yeah, alright. The Luma's seem to be having fun in the pool anyway." I lied down, and closed my eyes gently. I didn't get much sleep last night, and the sun was so nice, and...

"Ness..." I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, half awake.

"It's 10:55. I got one of my Luma's to stay and keep an eye on you while I got dressed. They'll all be here soon, we should be ready for when they call us down." She ran her fingers through my hair, trying to coax me awake.

I groaned, sat up, and rubbed my eyes. I was still a little tired, so I went over to the pool and splashed some water on my face to wake me back up. "Come on, Darling; I don't think you want to be late." She mentioned as I dried my face.

"Well, it would be no good for me to be there half-conscious either." She laughed at my over exaggeration. I fixed my hair and put my hat back on, following the taller woman back to the building.

We were right in front of the doors when the PA system cut in. "Attention Smashers! This is Wii Fit Trainer, there will be a meeting in the auditorium starting in 15 minutes. Feel free to come down now rather than waiting." Rosalina smiled at me.

"Let's go, if we're first we'll get good seats." We passed the Cafeteria, and entered the auditorium. She lead me up to the top row, where we wouldn't be easily seen but we had a decent view.

After waiting for a few minutes, Robin and Palutena came up to sit with us. Shulk and Link sat a row down, who chatted with each other, and us every so often. I was too impatient to talk with the others.

I hoped we didn't get anymore villains; we already have enough rude smashers with bad attitudes. I didn't want to be disappointed, I wanted someone new I could hang out with; not another smasher who picks on everyone and is full of themselves. But out of everything, I wanted my friend back the most.

"Hey, Everyone!" Peach's voice suddenly got everyone's attention. "So, I'm sure you guys are wondering why I brought you all here today! I find Thursdays to be pretty boring, being our rest days and all. You guys should know how fond I am of surprises, right?" Peach giggled, as she passed the mic to Samus, who was with her on stage.

"Most of you are aware of this, but for anyone who doesn't know; us smashers have moved from three other Mansions. Every move, we gain some smashers, and in some cases; we unfortunately lose some. Peach and I are here today, joined by one new smasher, and three that are returning." Several gasps were heard from the crowd as Samus exposed the news.

"So, we brought you here to reveal the identities of the fighters we've kept secret. They arrived less than an hour ago, so you guys weren't in the dark for long. Now, as you've been waiting for long enough as it is, we'd like to introduce our new smasher first." She passed the mic back to Peach, as the lights went dim everywhere but the middle of the stage. An unfamiliar theme was heard, as a shadow emerged from behind the back curtain.

"Welcome to Smash, Ryu!" Peach clapped as the audience joined in. He was quite muscular, and didn't look very friendly. Peach described the game he was from, which was another fighting game. Ryu reminded me of Little Mac, but a little more scary looking. The applauding stopped when Samus spoke again.

"Now, we will introduce two characters, who are returning from the Melee Mansion. Ladies, Gentlemen, and Otherwise, please welcome Mewtwo and Roy!"

Cheers burst from the crowd when they heard the names of their returning friends. A mash-up of a Pokemon and Fire Emblem theme came on, as the two came out. I had met them a long time ago, but I wasn't overly happy seeing them again. All I remember about those two, was Roy not bothering to talk to anyone but Marth, and Mewtwo being full of himself. Neither of them spoke too often, based on what I remembers. I sighed, hoping the last returning fighter would be a bit friendlier.

"Now, our final fighter of the night; coming back from the Brawl Mansion..." I heard the background music, and it caught my attention immediately.

 _Was that...?  
_  
A figure about my size came from behind the curtain slowly. "Welcome back, Lucas!" Peach announced happily.

A blonde, small bodied boy appeared in the light of the stage.

He was back...


	8. Years Later, and he Still Worries

**Chapter 8. Years Later, and he Still Worries.**

I stood on stage next to 3 other threatening figures who unfortunately weren't familiar to me. I could feel myself shaking, in front of so many new faces. I recognized a few people, like the blonde swordsman with the cat eyes, the little monkey with the red hat, and some other smashers I hung around with in the other Mansion. I scanned the room, but the boy I was looking for was nowhere to be found.

They couldn't have cut him, he must be here. I remember the first day I met him, when I was invited into smash several years ago. I was scared; terrified, even. So many unpleasant looking villains; I was too anxious to talk to anyone. I wanted to go home, and I was about to ask Master Hand if I could go back when he spoke to me.

 _"Hey, are you alright? You look a little scared; do you want me to show you around?"_

 _"I'm Ness. It's nice to meet you."_

Ness... That was his name. He had dark hair that was kept most of under his hat. He had a shirt like mine except his was blue. He had a Yo-Yo and a Baseball bat that he always used when he fought. Ness was a psychic, just like me. I don't know why I remembered so much about him; it had been years, but I remembered him like I had seen him everyday since.

 _((Pov Change))_

"Rosalina..." I half-whispered in shock.

"Is that your friend?" She looked at me with gentle excitement in her eyes.

"He's back..." He wore a red and yellow striped shirt, and denim shorts similar to mine. He still looked a little nervous, considering there were several people he didn't know, and he was on stage. I felt myself getting choked up; I was so happy to finally see his innocent blue gaze for the first time in years.

"Are you okay, Darling?" Rosalina rubbed my back, trying to help me relax.

"I'm just... so happy to see him again." I was interrupted as Samus prepared to dismiss us.

"The new fighters will be staying in rooms at the end of the main hall, which is being constructed by Master Hand as we speak." She informed. "And one more thing! We understand that you are all very excited to see your friends, but please don't kill each other trying to get to them." Peach added.

"On that note, everyone is dismissed. Enjoy the rest of your day; lunch is at twelve." Samus said as the lights came back on.

Marth, Link, and several others rushed over to see Roy, as Lucario and Charizard spoke with Mewtwo. Little Mac introduced himself to Ryu, and started showing him around.

Rosalina and I went into the hallway, where I could get away from all the noise. I was a bit overwhelmed, and everyone screaming wasn't helping.

"See? I told you everything would turn out okay. Why don't you go speak to him? I'm sure he'd appreciate it." She suggested.

"I don't know, I don't want to freak out when he talks to me. I just can't believe he's back!" I covered my face as I blushed.

"Ness... Is that really you?" A soft voice came from in down the hall. We looked up to see the same boy, this time in a deep red sweater. I froze in my spot. Neither of us said anything, until Rosalina gestured towards him.

"He's talking to you, not me!" She pushed me forward and floated off quickly. He walked towards me, and smiled once he realized who I was.

"I can't believe you came back..." He came closer, and I hugged him tightly.

"I missed you, Ness." It didn't even feel like the body holding me was real. It had been so long since I've seen him, and I had nearly lost hope of it happening again.

"I missed you too, Lucas. I didn't think I'd ever see you again." I started to feel emotional, so I put myself in a different situation. I let go of him and stepped back. "Hey, why don't I introduce you to my new friends?" I suggested, smiling.

"Yeah, sure. As long as you'll stay with me." He said softly. I smiled; he was still the same timid boy I met years ago.

"Hey, Guys!" I looked up to see two figures running towards us.

"Here come Toon Link and Pit, Lucas."

"Lucas, you're back!" Toonie yelled as he ran up and tackled him.

"It's nice seeing you two again." Lucas laughed as he pulled himself out from under Toon Link's playful grasp.

"Are you excited to be back in smash?" Pit asked with excitement.

"Yeah, I am. It's really great seeing all of my old friends." Lucas said shyly with that soft smile he always wore.

The 3 of us went off to show him where everything was. We took him outside to the pool, the tennis court, soccer field, the lake, the basketball court, and all the rooms inside. Toonie introduced him to the Villagers and Megaman when we saw them on the way as well. We continued our tour, until TL and Pit left to get ready for lunch. We walked up the hallway back to my room.

"Aren't you going to go, Ness?" Lucas asked once the other two left.

"Nah, I'm not really hungry; we can order room service whenever we want anyhow. Plus there's a rumour around that Pit is arranging a smoothie bar tonight, so I have to save some room for that." I continued up the hallway.

"Oh, I see. How come Pit gets to do that?" Oh right; Lucas didn't know about the archery comp prizes.

"We had an archery competition yesterday. Pit got third place, and he won the ability to decide on any food-based organization for two days." I smiled. Hopefully he'd be up for going to it. I didn't feel like attending alone, now that I had my friend back.

"That's pretty cool. Is your room up this way, Ness?" He pointed towards the last few doors in front of us.

"Yeah, it's right here." I opened the door to my room and invited him in. My room was fairly tidy, so I didn't have to clean anything up. I went in and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Your room is really nice." He walked around, taking in everything. He glanced over at my schedule on the wall, curiously. "What's this for?" He asked, taking it down to look at it closer.

"That's our schedule. It tells us what is going on everyday. Princess peach and the other girls in charge usually make announcements for us anyway, so you don't have to study it or anything." I laid back on my bed, and Lucas came over to sit beside me with the schedule in his hands.

"Is rest day what it sounds like?" I giggled.

"Yeah. There's nothing planned, so people usually just do their own thing. You have anywhere you'd like to go?" I questioned, in case he was bored.

"I'd like to go for a walk in the woods later, maybe before supper." He looked the schedule up and down.

"Okay, sure. There's a trail that leads to the lake, one that goes straight to forest, and one that leads out to the hot springs. The hot springs are quite pretty, so I can show you later if you want." He nodded and continued reading my schedule.

"Event day... Is that just like competitions and stuff?" He asked politely.

"Yeah. Yesterday's event was the Archery comp. We play sports pretty often, stuff like that." I answered.

"Oh, cool." He flipped it over to read the meal times.

"Supper isn't until five, so why don't we head out to the forest now? It's almost twelve, so we have time." I got up and grabbed my sweater.

"Yeah, sure." He put my schedule back and went towards the door. We went outside, and walked to the entrance of the forest trail.

 _((Pov change))  
_  
I walked down foreign hallways until we were back outside. It was a very pleasant place, and the trail Ness led me to was no different. It looked like a really peaceful area.

I'm surprised he was avoiding everyone to show me around the mansion; he didn't seem to be very responsive around the other smashers. There was something odd about how empty he seemed when Pit and Toonie were around.

"You can see the lake from up ahead. It's a really pretty view, and people have parties there sometime." Ness pointed out as we continued down the path. I scurried over to a look off, and gasped at what I saw. It was a beautiful day, and we could see down onto the shore from the cliff we were on.

"Ooooh. It'd be nice to go swimming down there some day." I sat down and noticed a little shrub with some berries on it.

I reached over, but stopped halfway. I wasn't sure if they were safe, so I looked to Ness for approval.

"You can eat them, they won't hurt you. Kirby puts them in muffins sometimes when he bakes." Ness smiled and sat next to me.

There was something about how he was acting that made me feel off. He was so happy, but it seemed like maybe he wasn't before I got here. Who was I kidding, Ness was always well-liked in the Mansion. It was me that couldn't make friends.

We sat in silence and enjoyed the scenery for what felt like hours. Being outside was very calming for me, so I was content. After some time passed, Ness spoke.

"I'm really glad you're back, Lucas." He looked over at me.

"Me too. It really sucked not getting to see you. I'm happy I was invited back into Smash." I smiled.

"Yeah..." He looked away, almost like he didn't want me to see his face. I leaned forward, and noticed his head hanging low and his lips were trembling.

He stared off into the sky, which I tried to admire as well. Although, I found myself looking back at Ness over and over again. There was something different about him. He seemed a bit thinner than I remembered, and his tone had changed. He didn't seem very happy around the other smashers either. He didn't even smile the same way anymore; I looked over at him, and frowned.

"Ness...?" He looked over, and smiled at me.

"Yeah? Is something wrong?" I tried to think of how to answer him.

"You're acting a little different. You don't seem the same as you used to be." I pointed out.

"I- I... missed you. Smash hasn't been the same since we moved." He admitted.

"What do you mean...?" I persisted, scooting closer. He looked upset.

"I haven't really had a friend as good as you since you left. Everybody has a person, and you were my person; you know? I've just been lonely without you around all the time." He turned towards me, and gave me what looked like a fake smile.

"Well, I'm here now." I smiled, and stood up. He got up as well, and leaned forward to hug me.

"I know, and I'm really happy it was you that got invited in." I hugged back, tightly. I felt bad that Ness was lonely in the Smash Mansion. He was my best friend, and I wasn't here for him when he needed me. He pulled away gently, and I started to feel tears welling up behind my eyes.

"I thought I was never going to see you again. I didn't want to lose the only friend I've ever had. I was so scared that you weren't here." He seemed surprised at how quickly I got upset.

"Hey, hey; It's alright. I missed you, that's all; you don't have to be sad, I'm okay. I'm just glad to have you back, Lucas." He put his arm around me and rubbed my shoulders to assure things were alright. He used to do that when the other guys would pick on me back in Mansion Three.

 _((Pov change))_

Even though I hadn't seen him in years, Lucas was still exactly the same. He could read me like a book, and was always worried about me. It was in a way, flattering how much he cared, but I didn't want him to beat himself up over things.

"Ness, can you promise me something?" He turned to face me.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" He looked down at the ground.

"Well... You were never good at talking about your feelings, Ness. I really don't want you to feel like this. Please make sure you tell me what's going on every once and awhile." His blue eyes met mine with a steady gaze.

"I will. You don't have to worry about me, Lucas." I smiled to try and lighten the mood. "Hey, why don't we start heading back? We can go find Pit to see what he has planned for supper."  
I suggested.

"Yeah, sure." He brushed himself off, and we headed back to the Mansion We talked about some of the competitions people had in the past that I liked, as well as some other stories. I told him about the time we had a pool party, and Donkey Kong broke the diving board trying to jump in.

"Wow, really? It sounds like you had fun. I'd love to go to a party like that sometime." Lucas laughed, and covered his mouth. I don't know why he did that; Lucas used to cover his face when he laughed back when we lived in the other Mansion. It must have been a habit of his.

"Yeah, Ike and Donkey Kong are really good at breaking stuff. Marth and Shulk are always cleaning up after Ike." I giggled.

"Shulk...?" Oh, right. He hadn't met him yet.

"Oh, sorry. Shulk is one of the new smashers. He's friends with Link, Marth, Pit and the gang. I can introduce you to him if you want; he's really friendly." I offered.

"Okay, sure." Lucas ate the rest of the berries he had picked earlier as we approached the mansion doors. Right as we entered, I heard the familiar screams of Ike and Link.

"That sounds like them." I snickered as I followed the sounds to the gym. I opened the doors and peeked in, to see several smashers playing dodgeball.

"Hey, guys! You wanna play with us?" Robin held his hands up to stop the game, as he ran over to us.

"Who's that?" I heard Lucas whisper to me.

"Him? That's Robin, one of my other friends. Robin, this is Lucas; he's one of my friends from Mansion Three." Robin trotted over with a ball under his arm.

"Hey, Lucas; my name is Robin. It's nice to meet you." He adverted his attention to me. "Does he know the rest of these idiots?" Robin chuckled, pointing behind him towards Link, Marth, Shulk, Pit, Roy, and Ike.

"He would know everyone but Shulk and Roy. Come on, they're nice guys." I said, walking over towards them. Shulk approached us first, with Roy coming behind him.

"Hello! I'm Shulk; good to meet ya, Lucas!" He shook his hand and smiled. He introduced himself to Roy as well, and Marth came over to join us.

"You guys gonna play? You can pick whatever team you'd like." Marth offered. We looked at each other, and decided against it. I spoke for both of us, knowing how Lucas felt about large groups of new people.

"We're fine watching, thanks though." I smiled and we sat on the benches by the wall. Robin ran back over to his side of the court.

"Alright, the intermission is over!" He shouted as he threw the ball with all his might. We heard Ike scream, and a thud as he hit the floor.

"I think I'll like it here." Lucas snickered as he watched the other smashers nearly kill each other over a ball.

I think I'll like it here now, too.


	9. Impatiently Waiting

Disclaimer: This is another chapter that is entirely focused on a side ship, which is also mildly suggestive.

* * *

 **Chapter 9. Impatiently Waiting.**

"No fair! You guys have all the good players on your team!" Ike whined from across the room.

"Stop complaining, Ike; you guys have Shulk and Roy!" Robin yelled back.

"It's not our fault Ike sucks!" Link countered.

"You guys are just sad because the four of you lost to the three of us." I smirked. Link gave me the finger and the two psychic kids laughed.

"Rather than sit here and insult each other all day, why don't we play something else?" Shulk suggested.

"Yeah, maybe something I'm actually good at." Ike grumbled.

"We'll be here for hours trying to find something you can beat us at." I laughed and sat on the gym floor.

"Marth, you want me to come over there and kick your ass?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I'd like to see you try." I lied back and put my hands behind my head. "You can even throw the first punch." Pit giggled, and Ike sighed.

"I liked Shulk's idea. Why don't we play something else?" Link suggested, patting Ike on the head.

"We could play never have I ever. I'm sure Ike would be good at that." Robin said, throwing the other dodge balls back into the bin.

"Oh shut up, you won't be happy when you lose." Link, Ike, and Roy ran over to sit in a circle.

"Ness, Lucas; do you guys want to join?" Pit asked before running over to join us.

"We're okay, thanks." Ness answered.

"Alright, does everyone remember how to play?" Robin asked while him and Shulk sat down with us.

"Yeah, I think so." Pit said as he put up his fingers.

"I'll go first." Roy offered, smirking. "Never have I ever given a blowjob." Myself, Link, and Ike all glared at him and we each put a finger down.

"Are you guys serious? Come on, we just started and it's already gotten sexual." Robin said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not my fault, I lost a bet." Link folded his arms and turned away.

"Ike probably sucked his own dick." I smiled at the blue haired swordsman sitting across from me. He glared, and turned away from me.

"Never have I ever willingly kissed another guy." Link looked us over as he seen a few other fingers go down. At this point, Ike and I were down by two, Link, Robin, and Shulk were down one. Roy was in the lead so far, being the most heterosexual guy there.

"Never have I ever worn tights in smash." Shulk said, while Roy, Robin, Link, Ike, and myself put down another finger.

"That's just rude." Link commented.

"Never have I ever had my first kiss." I heard Pit say from beside me. That was something I was rather determined to change.

Everyone lost a finger there except Pit. I had to think of something that would get Robin. There was hardly anything I could do to knock Roy down.

"Never have I ever used a weapon other than a sword to fight in smash." I got three out with that, which I was fairly proud of.

The game went on for about a half hour, and Roy ended up winning. I lost a finger almost every turn, and Ike was playing a similar game to mine.

"I'm gonna head off, I have to talk about supper with Kirby and Jigglypuff. I'll see you guys later." Pit said, starting to leave.

"Mind if I join you?" He turned around and smiled when he saw me.

"No, I'd enjoy a second opinion." I walked him to the cafeteria in hopes to find who he was looking for.

"Aw, I don't think they're around right now. I'll just hang out here, want to go sit outside until they get back?"

"Sure, why not." I went to the door and opened it for him.

"You're awfully polite; you don't have to open doors for me, Marth." Pit giggled as he walked over to sit in the grass outside. He looked up at me as I knelt down to sit beside him.

"Well, I am a prince after all. A prince in the presence of an angel like yourself, should pay his respects." Pit covered his mouth and blushed.

"You're really quite flattering." He snickered from behind his hands.

"It's just what I do." I ran the tips of my fingers through his hair, brushing it to the side. I saw some flowers out of the corner of my eye, and had an idea. I took his little crown off of his head, and picked a few flowers to put in his hair.

"Marth, what are you doing?" He laughed as I continued to make him a flower crown.

"I thought it would look nice." I said, resting my hand on his cheek. He started to squirm out of embarrassment. Everything that I did got him so fidgety and overwhelmed; in a good way, of course.

I could tell Pit had a crush on me. There was something about the way his wings tensed up when I walked by. When he'd play with his bracelets to try to keep me from seeing how he was caving in when I spoke to him. How his cheeks flushed bright red when I caught him looking at me. He was an awful liar; and I knew he felt this way for a while. There was no denying Pit was cute, and I liked him back; but I could keep it to myself and he couldn't. I wanted him to know, but Pit had a thick skull. The problem was getting the message to him. I didn't want to be direct about it.

I'd just have to tease him. How much could I make him squirm before he gave in? I'd have to play my cards carefully to do this right.

"Hey, Pit. Have you really never kissed anyone?" I leaned back to rest on my elbows.

"No... Is that bad?"

"Of course not. Have you ever thought about it?" I spoke in a low, calm tone.

"Ye- yeah, a few times. Why?" He looked embarrassed.

"Just wondering, sweets. I didn't think someone as cute as you could last this long without their first." I said deviously.

"...You really think I'm cute?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm sure many smashers would agree with me." He bit his bottom lip.

 _((Pov change))_

I wanted to tell him.

I really liked Marth, and I'm pretty sure he figured it out by now. He was just such a tease, but I couldn't tell if he felt the same way about me. He'd torture me with all this platonic stuff that I had no idea if he really meant, and it was up to me to interpret it all.

I wondered if he felt the same. If he loved my voice as much as I adored his. If he put me in situations like this to try and get me to admit it.

Frustrated, I shook the feelings off and waited for the right time.

"Well, Pit; I think we have quite a bit of time before you can speak with the chefs. I have some stuff to do, care to come with me?" He got up and picked the flowers off his navy blue 'I fight for my friends' shirt. He wore it all the time because it annoyed Ike.

"Yeah, sure." He gave me his hand and pulled me up. "Thanks." I giggled as I took the flowers out of my hair. He led me back inside and I followed him up to his room. He picked up his schedule and looked through it.

"Is there seriously nothing going on today? Ugh. At least tomorrow's event day. I heard Sheik was going to have his event, so that's something to look forward to."

"Yeah. If it makes you feel better, I'm arranging a smoothie bar at nine tonight. You can go with me if you want, it'll be fun!" Since it was my last day to decide what we eat, I wanted to make the best of my last decision. Something to make rest day a little more interesting.

"Ooh, sounds fun." He spoke in that same lustful tone as he always did when I was around.

"Well, I have to shower while I'm up here. Do you think you can manage yourself? I won't be long." He took off his scarf and laid it on his dresser.

"Yeah, I'll keep myself entertained." I didn't plan on doing much, I'd probably just look around. Marth usually took short showers.

"See you in a bit. Don't get into too much trouble without me." He winked and closed the bathroom door. I couldn't help but notice he didn't lock it; he really had no shame.

I snooped around his room for a few minutes, and saw his tournament outfit sitting on the top, neatly folded.

Every smasher had a special set of clothing that they wore for tournaments, which was their classic appearance from their games. It was our most iconic outfit in most cases. Link had his green tunic and white tights, Kirby had to stay his natural pink for a day rather than changing colour, and stuff like that.

I always really liked Marth's tournament wear. It was similar to Links, with tights, boots and a tunic type thing. I didn't have much else to do, so I decided to try it on. I slipped into the black tights, and the boots shortly after, which fit quite well. I was just putting on his scarf/cape thing when I heard the door open.

"Pit...? Why are you wearing my clothes?" He laughed and I turned around. I almost screamed when I saw him, with nothing on but a pale blue towel around his waist.

"Why aren't _you_ wearing your clothes?" I desperately tried to find something innocent to look at.

"Because they're out here, and you're wearing them." He grinned at me. "I'm not wearing those anyhow, but you still need to take them off. As good as you look in them, they are my clothes." He rooted through his dresser.

"Alright, I'll go in the bathroom and take this off." He nodded and I went in. The mirror was still steamed up from when he showered.

I took off the cape, and started working on the top. I got half of it undone when it got stuck. I messed with it for a minute or two, but it was caught on something. I'd have an excuse to get him to help.

"Hey, Marth; can you come here for a second...?"

"Yeah, just hang on." I heard the door open, and him coming up beside me.  
I turned around and was faced with another issue. He stood in front of me in only his crimson and grey boxers like nothing was wrong. I'm convinced he did this on purpose to embarrass me half the time. "What's the matter?" He asked, eyeing me up and down to see what the problem was.

"Oh, I uh... Got stuck. I can't get this thing off." I smiled awkwardly.

"Ah, I see. It happens a lot; I'll help you." He said as he approached me. I drew in a sharp breath when I felt his gentle hands on my chest. He was slow and careful, which I both loved and hated at the same time. He curved one hand behind my back to keep me still, which wasn't necessary but I was in no shape to argue. He got the top undone and pulled it off of me gently, leaving my upper body bare. He folded it and set it aside, and gave me my shirt back in progress.

"You need help with the tights too?" He looked back and stuck his tongue out at me. As much as I wanted him to stay, I let my lack of courage get the best of me.

"No, thanks." He shrugged and shut the door again. I slipped back into my shirt and shorts, and joined him in his room. He was clothed now, thankfully. He wore the same outfit, just without the long sleeved grey shirt under his blue one. It was reasonable for him to change, as it had gotten quite warm since this morning.

"Well, that's all I had to do. We can go see if Kirby is around now; if you want that is." He offered as he fixed his hair in the mirror.

 _((Pov change))_

We began to walk to the cafeteria, but ended up meeting Kirby and Pikachu on the way. Pit spoke to him about whatever it was that he needed, which I didn't really intrude on. Kirby told him that he would mention it to Peach, and that they'd get him once it was brought up.

I didn't pay much attention to the conversation, I was mostly focused on the angel standing next to me. I felt like today was a success so far. I loved seeing him freak out internally when he saw me partially clothed. I could tell he had thoughts like that about me, but my goal for now was to leave him wondering.

I'd just have to tease him until he made the first move.


	10. Always there

_Tw: blood/bullying (brief flashbacks)_

* * *

 **Chapter 10. Always There.**

Being back in the mansion was really nice. It was a little weird trying to adjust to having a lot of people around all the time, but I liked having friends to talk to again. The thing that surprised me the most was Ness.

Ness didn't pay a lot of attention to me in Mansion Three. Yeah, we were friends; but he was busy all the time. He always seemed to be going somewhere or doing something, so I usually just hung out by myself. Ness was my closest friend, but it had felt like I needed him more than he needed me. But based on how he's been acting lately...

Maybe that wasn't the case at all.

 _((Pov change))_

Today was pretty boring; with the exception of Lucas coming back. The two of us hung out all day, but not much happened.

We watched Robin and his friends play never have I ever, which was funny; but we mostly just laid around all day. We had Pork for supper, followed by strawberries and chocolate fondue. After that we walked around a lot, and talked to most people we saw so Lucas wasn't completely unaware of who he'd be living with.

Thursdays usually ended with a lot of boredom. The both of us were sat on my bed, just talking about how things have been since we last seen each other.

"Hey, Ness." I heard him ask after some silence.

"Yeah?" I looked over from laying face up on my bed.

"Would you mind if I stayed in your room tonight...?" I shrugged.

"If you want to, it's fine with me." I smiled at him. "Your room isn't done yet?" I questioned, sitting up.

"No, it's done. I'd just rather be with you my first night back. I'm a little nervous from seeing so many people today." That made sense; Lucas wasn't the greatest in social situations. I was suddenly reminded of how the other smashers used to pick on him in Mansion Three.

It was usually Falco and Meta Knight that gave him a hard time. Me and a few others kicked their asses countless times, after Lucas came to me with a bloody nose; lying through his teeth that he was fine. I cringed at the faded memory of finding Lucas with tear-stained cheeks and spitting up blood.

Maybe that's what he was worried about. Now that I thought about it, I did notice him tense up when he saw Fox and Falco during supper.

"It's alright, I understand. I'll make sure that nothing happens to you." I ran my hands down his back to try and comfort him.

"Thanks, Ness." He seemed to relax under my touch.

"You can sleep in my bed, and I'll stay on the floor." I offered.

"Are you sure? You don't have to give me your bed." He looked over at me with gentle worry on his face, from his position of lying face down beside me.

"Yeah, it's no problem. I'll just need a blanket and a pillow. I could probably fall asleep outside in the grass just as easy." I said, encouraging him.

"Okay, if you say so." He snickered. I saw him push himself up to check the time. "Hey, isn't Pit having some smoothie thing tonight at nine?" He asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, why? We didn't miss it; did we?" There's no way it was that late already.

"No, but it's eight thirty. I just figured I'd let you know so we don't lose track of time." He was always trying to be ready for everything.

"Oh, okay. Do you want to head down early? We can meet up with Toon Link and the rest of his friends until it starts or something." I got up and put on my sweater, the blue one with yellow on the ends of the sleeves; in case it was cold.

"Alright, sure." He stood up and we walked down to the cafeteria. We saw Yoshi and Mr. Game and Watch, who we spoke to politely.

"Oooh, wow..." Lucas commented as we entered. The room was dimly lit and there was a huge buffet table with the smoothie ingredients all lined up. Not only that, but there were raspberry-vanilla scented candles in the center of each other table.

"Hey, guys; isn't this cool?!" Pit floated towards us with a bowl of various fruits in one hand, and a container of yogurt in the other.

"Yeah, it looks super nice!" Lucas said, raising his arms to his chest in excitement. Kirby, Jigglypuff, and several Luma's were sat at the buffet table, arranging everything to prepare to make smoothies.

We sat with Pit and Shulk, until an announcement was made about the event starting. Pit brought us up to get our smoothies, so we wouldn't have to wait once there was a crowd. I got strawberry-kiwi, and Lucas got citrus-mango-melon.

We went to go sit down with the other two, but were soon distracted by the sound of Ike, Marth, and Link; which was always easy to pick from a crowd. Dark Pit came over to drag Shulk and Pit over with the others, leaving Lucas and I by ourselves.

"Well, I guess they're just gonna hang with them now." I hung my head slightly; it was a feeling I was used to.

"Hey, it's alright. I'll stay here with you." He smiled at me, reassuringly.

"Thanks. This used to happen all the time, that's all." I faked a smile, but I knew he could tell it wasn't real.

"We don't have to stay if you don't want to. I don't mind leaving early." I looked behind me to see everyone else laughing with each other, and I felt like I wasn't really needed.

"Yeah, maybe we should go." I slouched back in my chair while Lucas finished his smoothie.

I hated that everyone always had someone more important than me. Every time someone else was around, they didn't need me anymore. I buried my face in my hands; at least I had Lucas back. I felt like things would be a lot better now that he was around. He was the kind of friend that would stop whatever he was doing if you needed him; he always made time for me, no matter how busy he was.

I heard him set his glass on the table, and I looked up to find him standing beside me. He signalled for me to go with him. We walked back up to my room, and I was fairly silent for the walk up. I got in, and sat on the floor.

"Ness..." I looked up to see Lucas close my door and turn around. He got a blanket from my bed and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Are you alright...?" He asked softly, sitting in front of me on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I half-lied. I was happy that he was here, but it sucked that I was still getting ignored by my other friends. He pouted, and climbed towards me to sit on his knees only a few inches in front of me.

"Are you sure?" I couldn't look into his azure gaze and be dishonest.

"Kind of..." I suddenly felt Lucas climb into my lap and bury his face in my neck. He wrapped his arms around my sides, and I did the same to him.

"It's okay, Ness; I'm here." I smiled, and returned his hug. I was glad he would be staying with me tonight. I stayed content in his embrace without talking for a few minutes. He always knew what was wrong, even if it was only small. He really did care too much.

 _((Pov change))_

I hated seeing him upset. I kept my arms around him, in hopes to lift his mood some. Even though it wasn't much that happened, I understood why he felt the way he did. I could relate to the feeling of not being important.

"Try not to be sad, Ness. I know what it's like to feel like no one wants you around. It's not fun, but you can't let this get you down." He broke from my grasp and looked me in the eyes. The corners of his mouth pulled up into a soft smile.

"Thanks, Lucas. Maybe we should go to bed; I'll feel better in the morning." Ness turned and grabbed a pillow off the bed behind him.

"Alright, are you sure you don't mind me sleeping here?" I climbed off of him and stood up.

"Not at all."

"Okay; if you say so. I have to get my pyjamas, so I'll go get dressed and come back." I approached the door and Ness nodded. I scurried down the hall towards my room. I grabbed my red shirt with the Mr. Freezie on it and my black shorts, slipped into them and opened the door again; I peeked through and froze in my tracks. There was someone there that I really didn't want to be faced with.

I pulled the door towards me so that I could just see through the crack. I saw a tall villain with a red beard standing next to a spiked dragon and a masked creature with wings. They were facing away from me, so they probably wouldn't notice that I was there. What were their names? The three looked very familiar; but I couldn't place what any of them went by.

I had vague memories of the dragon saying a lot of rude things to Princess Peach. I examined the tall one with the beard, who I couldn't quite place either. My eyes were fixed on the last figure there, and I felt my stomach drop. I didn't really like any of them, but the winged creature made me feel nauseous. I didn't like his mask.

I closed my door and sat on my bed; feeling like I was going to throw up. I started to feel weak, and I went in the bathroom to see the colour draining from my face. I knew couldn't leave, they were all out there! I waited, hoping they'd just leave. I sat by the door and tried to stop myself from freaking out.

I heard some laughing from the villains in the hallway, and seen my doorknob turn slowly. I drew in a breath and crawled backwards.

 _No, no, please; don't hurt me..._

"Lucas...?" I heard a familiar voice and looked up from behind my hands. I felt relieved, as I was met with an ebony haired psychic in white and blue striped pyjamas.

"Are you alright? It's been 10 minutes since you left." He walked over and crouched down in front of me.

"Yeah, I'm okay. There were some guys in the hallway, it's nothing." I said, starting to stand up.

"You sure?" He persisted, giving me his hand to lift me up.

"I'm fine, don't worry." He shrugged and opened the door. We walked past the group of smashers, who I avoided looking at. I could still feel their eyes on me as I walked past them. We got back into his room, and I sat on the bed. He had his spot made on the floor, which looked quite cozy.

"Ready to go to sleep?" He asked, walking over to the light switch.

"Sure. Good night, Ness. Thanks for everything you did today." I snuggled underneath the blankets on his bed.

"No problem. Good night; if you need anything, wake me up." He turned off the light and got into his bed on the floor. I heard him move around, and something light hit the floor afterwards. I looked over, but my eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet. I knew it couldn't have been anything serious.

I rolled over, and tried as hard as I could to sleep. I was cold, I couldn't get comfortable, _and_ I had to pee. I sighed, and got up to go to the bathroom. I was still freezing, but I didn't want to risk going out to get a sweater.

I got back from the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out what to do. I looked over at the other psychic sleeping on the floor below me. I noticed that the noise earlier was his shirt hitting the floor. How was he not cold? I lied back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Ness _did_ say to wake him up if I needed anything...

"Ness, are you awake?" I whispered in his direction. There was no response, and I sighed. Well, It was fate; I was going to freeze to death. I creeped down onto the floor and looked at him. I reached my arm over, and poked his face a couple times. I couldn't help but notice how warm he felt.

Well, if he wasn't going to wake up… I lifted up his blanket and crawled in with him. He flinched a little, but didn't say anything so I guess he was still asleep. I rolled over and curled up beside him contently. I laid beside the other psychic for a few minutes, then I felt some kind of pressure around the front of my head.

I couldn't tell what it was, but it felt like something was trying to burst through. I wasn't the greatest with psi, but I could feel some form of emotion trying to get through to me. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the energy I was getting. It was coming from Ness, and it seemed like happiness; or maybe... No.

I was probably just tired.

 _((Pov change))_

"Ness..."

I could vaguely hear a voice, in my half-slumber on the floor. I fought with myself to wake up, but drowsiness got the best of me. I was awoken again seconds later as I felt another presence in my bed. I didn't have the energy to roll over, but I knew it must have been Lucas.

I hoped he wasn't scared again. With Lucas, it could have been a lot of things. Either way, I was glad he was comfortable with me. I didn't want anything to happen to him; he's my best friend, and I care about him, and I don't want him to get hurt, and...

Now that I think about it, Lucas has always meant a lot to me; even in Mansion Three. I was the only one who took the time to know him. He may have just been a timid boy with social anxiety to everyone else, but to me...

He was a lot more than all of that.


	11. Distant Admiring

**Chapter 11. Distant Admiring.**

"Good morning everyone; this is Zelda speaking. Today is Friday, so we are having an event today! For this event, Peach and I are going to require some help from the more artistic smashers here. If anyone who is creative wants to help us, come to the meeting room at one-thirty."

The intercom cut out and Marth yelled to me. "Hey, Robin; you're artistic. Why don't you do it?" The blue haired swordsman smiled at me.

"Yeah, Marth has a point." Link brought forth from the other side of the basketball court. I thought about it. I wasn't sure what the event was, but it would probably be fun.

"I'll go see what it is. What time is it now?" Marth held the ball and took his phone out of his pocket.

"Twelve fifty-seven. You still have lots of time." He put his phone back and threw the ball to Link. I could just leave now, and ask Zelda what we'd be doing.

"Do you guys mind if I head down now to ask about it?" I asked.

"No; go for it." Link said without taking his eyes off the ball.

"Alright. If I don't come back, it means I decided to do it." I headed out of the court and into the building.

"Hey, less important Robin!" Robin* said, running up to me in the hall.

"Can I help you, more annoying Robin*?" I laughed, and she glared at me.

"Hardy har. Are you going to the meeting today?" She bounced up and down in front of me.

"Yeah, I was heading down now to see what it was about. Why?" I leaned back against the wall, seeing as any conversation with Robin* being this excited was going to be lengthy.

"Because I know what we're doing, and it's gonna be super fun!" She smirked at me. Well, I guess I didn't have to ask Zelda.

"Okay, can you explain?" I chuckled at her excitement.

"Well, we're having glow in the dark capture the flag to the death. We need people to help decide how we're going to paint everyone."

"So, we're going paint people with glow in the dark paint...?" She nodded and smiled.

"Sheik, Palutena, and Wii Fit Trainer are going to divide everyone up into even teams. We'll colour everyone accordingly, and have defining features painted so people can tell who their opponents are just by what is glowing, because it'll be too dark to see anything." I nodded; impressed by how much thought went into this.

"Huh. Sounds like fun; I'd love to help out." I smiled at her, now quite excited for the event,

"We're mostly finding people to help and go over the defining features for each of the smashers. We can get all kinds of things; clothing safe paint, hair dye, even contact lenses!" With that much of a variety, we could really get a lot of cool effects.

"That's awesome! So I guess we'd go through the list of smashers and decide what should be painted?" I asked.

"Yeah! Depending on how many show, we'll probably assign everyone to a team and they'll be responsible for that team. Anyway, what are you waiting for? Why don't we go down now?" She skipped up the hall into the meeting room; Robin* really had too much energy. I followed her into the room, where I seen Zelda and Palutena.

"Good afternoon, Robins." Palutena greeted us as we walked in.

"Hello; how are things?" Robin* trotted over and sat in the computer chair.

"Alright so far; they'll be better once people start showing up for the meeting. Is Robin going to help?" Zelda asked, gesturing at me.

"Yeah, I stole him when I seen him in the hallway. He was coming down to see what was going on anyway." She spun around in her chair.

"Oh, I see. You told him about it, I assume?" Palutena said gently. She brought up a roster of all the fighters on the projection touchscreen.

"Yup! He thinks it's a really cool idea." Robin* jumped up and met Palutena by the screen.

"It is really creative. I'd be happy to help out." I smiled and sat by table in front of the touch screen.

"Palutena, can you help me divide everyone into teams?" I heard a voice come through the door.

"Peach, you finally decided to show! I'll get it going in a second." I blushed as the blonde princess gracefully walked towards us. I had a little crush on her for a while, but I didn't have a huge urge to act on it. Yeah, she was very sweet, and I wished I could be closer with her, but I was shy.

"We should expect people soon. Robin*, would you and Zelda mind explaining what's going on while Palutena, Sheik and myself take care of the teams?" She requested politely to the two other girls.

"Sure thing, Peachy!" Robin* hopped up and Zelda nodded gently. Once everyone had arrived, we were joined by the two Villagers, Luigi, Toon Link, Olimar, Rosalina, Mr. Game and Watch, and Lucina. Robin* told everyone what was going on while Zelda brought up pictures of everyone on the touch screen.

"We've already picked the team colours, but we don't have everyone placed just yet. Out job now is to figure out who should be glowing where." We brought up a picture of Mario and the discussion began.

A lot of the time people agreed whenever someone came up with an idea. After about 10 minutes of going through the roster, we got Mario through Link finished. A few more debates later, and we were finished.

"Alright, looks like all the planning is done! Now, we are going to need you guys again. We have five teams that will be competing today. We'll have two of us for each team that'll be helping colour everyone at eleven tonight. The event starts at midnight, and goes until we've done five two-team rounds. You guys can do whatever you want up until then. Just don't spoil anything huge." Everyone else left after that, but I decided to stay with Robin*.

"How are the teams going, Sheik?" I walked over to him as he placed names in coloured circles.

"Fairly well. I had to rate the smashers based on strengths in four main categories, then divide everyone up as fairly as possible to create even teams. It's a little frustrating trying to balance out all of us accordingly." He showed me all of his his plans on a chart on Wii Fit Trainer's whiteboard.

"Looks complicated." I looked the flowchart up and down but could hardly follow it.

"It is complicated, but thankfully I'm nearly finished. After this, we have to examine some areas in the forest to decide where we'll be playing. You can come with us if you like." He offered, still frantically placing names and numbers in coloured circles.

"Alright, sure." I didn't have much to do until then.

...

"Robin*, get down! We're here to pick a spot!" Sheik yelled to Robin*, who was 20 feet off the ground in a tree.

"I'm testing the area, chill out!" She wrapped her legs around the branch below her, and swung her way down the tree trunk. "I like this place. There's lots of trees, trenches, open area for combat and tons of places to hide! What do you guys think?" She bounced in excitement.

"I think it's suitable." Samus stated; Sheik and I nodded our heads in agreement.

"Then it's settled! We just have to pick places for all the flags."

…

"Man, this event is awfully late; I'm glad I got a good sleep last night. I wonder what it could be that needs to be held at twelve?" Shulk said, stretching.

"Maybe we're sacrificing all the smashers with annoying accents to a volcano. It's tradition to do volcanic sacrifices at midnight." Roy raised his eyebrows at the blonde boy sitting beside him.

"Hey, hey, let's save the insults for the completion if it's really needed." Shulk smirked at my comment.

"Plus, Shulk isn't the only one who's annoying." Marth grinned.

"You're one to talk, Marth." Ike scoffed.

"Did anyone hear what Robin said; or are you guys all idiots?" Lucina commented.

"They're all idiots." Shulk snickered, lying back in the grass.

"I'm gonna fall asleep if this event thing doesn't soon start." Marth sighed.

"You won't have to wait much longer; we all have prepare in advance. Robin and I should probably be called down soon; because we're helping." Lucina was almost immediately cut off by the PA system.

"Everyone who attended the event meeting this morning that offered to help with tonights event, please come to the training area now. You will be assigned a job before the others meet here." Peach's gentle voice informed.

"Good timing." I chuckled at Lucina as we went on our way.

"So, have you been talking to her like I told you to?" She smiled at me once we were far enough so no one could hear us.

Lucina and I were fairly close friends. We hung out a lot, and were always comfortable around each other. I even told her whenever I had a crush on someone. She knew about my developing feelings for Princess Peach as well, who she was always trying to get me with.

"Uhhh, not much; no." I admitted.

"Come on, Robin! You gotta rack up some courage and talk to the woman. Someone as cute as you shouldn't have trouble with girls." She elbowed me and smirked.

"I will eventually, I just need to find the right moment." I assured her, hoping she wouldn't interfere.

"I'm going to make it my purpose in life to get you two together." She looked forward and grinned deviously. I rolled my eyes, and hoped to god she was joking.

We finally got to the training area, where we seen Sheik, Robin*, Samus, Wii Fit Trainer, and a few others from earlier.

"Hey guys! Once everyone gets here I'll let you know why we're in the training area." Robin* said happily from on top of Sheiks shoulders. Lucina plopped down on the floor and patted the spot next to her. I sat down, awaiting the other fighters. We were hardly there for a minute when everyone had showed up.

"Alright, some of you may be wondering why we gathered you in the training area. Robin*, myself, and a few friends decided on where to hold the event earlier today. Since everyone has the chambers that take us to our stages in practice, we asked Shulk and R.O.B if they would assist us in changing the paths of the teleporting sensors to take everyone to different locations." Samus said. So _that_ was why Shulk was busy this afternoon.

"As you know, we have 5 colour coordinated teams. We placed all of the starting points for each team in the woods, and changed the path of the teleporters so that when they activate, the smashers will be taken to a specific place depending on which team they're on. We're going to put everyone in their chambers, and send them to meet their teams." Robin* added.

"Now, all of you guys have been assigned a temporary team that may or may not be the one that you are on. We don't necessarily have two of you on each team, so we had to distribute you evenly before the event starts to prepare everyone. Robin* is going around passing out pieces of paper with your actual teams on them, so you can colour yourself accordingly. If you'd all step into your chambers, we may start." Sheik concluded as Robin* finished giving us the papers telling us our teams.

I was on the Indigo team, but I didn't yet know who was with me. I'm sure I'd have someone I was friends with. I stepped into my chamber and I was teleported to the forest. I looked around, and spotted Toon Link and a glowing indigo flag.

"Hey, Robin! Are you on this team too?" He asked with excitement, looking through all the dye and paints that we had.

"Yeah. We must've had at least two of us on the indigo team." I pointed out.

"Yeah, why don't we paint ourselves in advance?" He suggested happily.

"Alright, sure. Can you pass me the hair dye?" I was temporarily dying my hair and using the easily removable paint on my sword and book. Along with that, I planned on drinking a serum that would change the colour of my magic. TL helped my with my hair, as I did with his contacts.

Once we finished, TL and I walked around exploring the area. We seen an aqua haired Villager*, coupled with a deep teal dress; along with a Glowing white Villager in the same fashion. Zelda had sections on her dress a raspberry shade, along with Olimar having similarly coloured Pikmin.

Robin* had a pattern like mine, but she was mango coloured rather than deep blue and violet. She was joined by Palutena, who had both of her carried weapons glowing a citrus yellow. Luigi had his overalls, fireballs and the L on his hat a vibrant shade of cherry red. Lucina had her crown, the badge on her cape, and her sword painted magenta.

TL and I waited by our base for a few more minutes, when the ground lit up in several places around us.

"Robin, our team is here!" Toon Link jumped up and down, nearly knocking over our paint. I tried to make our some silhouettes, and smiled when my eyes met a blonde princess in pink shorts. 


	12. Teamwork and New Friends

**Chapter 12. Teamwork and New Friends.**

I covered my face with my hands as a bright light absorbed everyone, and we were teleported away. I appeared in a forest, seeing two girls who were for some reason glowing shades of green and blue. I looked around anxiously for someone I recognized; when a small electric creature ran over to me.

"Hey, Lucas! I guess we're gonna be teammates!"

"Oh, Hi, Pikachu. Are you excited?" I was relieved now that I had someone I knew with me.

"Am I ever! I still don't know what we're doing, but you and I should team up!" I nodded, but averted my attention when a girl with a glowing axe spoke.

"Hi everyone; welcome to glow in the dark capture the flag! I'm Villager*, this is Rosalina, and we're your teammates. We are going to colour everyone the same as our team flag with clothing safe paint, washable hair dye, anything imaginable! Earlier today, we had a meeting on how everyone should be coloured. We decided on defining features, and we're going to make our plans come to life!" Everyone cheered as she concluded the explanation.

"This is gonna be fun!" Pikachu bounced around next to me. I looked around at my other teammates, and was soon greeted by Shulk and Sheik.

"Heya, Lucas! Isn't this cool?" Shulk asked with optimism.

"Yeah, it looks like it's gonna be super fun." I looked over to see Rosalina helping Sonic with his contacts and painting his shoes; while Villager* was dying Samus' hair as she reprogrammed the colour of her whip.

"Before it all starts, we should try to strategize: you know, come up with some kind of plan." A red-haired swordsman said, walking towards us.

"Very smart of you, Roy. I think the most efficient plan would be to put everyone in groups of two or three, and decide on who guards and who approaches." Sheik suggested. They were taking this awfully seriously for something that was just a game. **  
**  
"I'd say we should pair people up; one with close ranged attacks and one with long ranged attacks, to balance each other out." I didn't know the boy who spoke. He looked like Pit, but he seemed like some kind of mean clone of him.

"I think Lucas and I would make a good team, maybe Pikachu as well." Shulk walked over and stood next to me. I think he knew I was anxious about being away from my close friends. I'd be comfortable around him; he was friendly, and being very encouraging.

"Yeah, I like that idea!" Pikachu stood on his back legs and clenched his fists. I was a little shaken up about having Bowser and that strange alternate Pit on my team, but being with Shulk and Pikachu made me feel a lot better about the competition.

"We aren't allowed to see who is on the team we'll be facing, all that we'll be given is their colour and a map showing the location of their flag. I'm sure if we keep the more agile smashers as defenders, we should do fine." Sheik pointed out.

"It would be best if Sonic and Samus stayed back to guard the ground, and I could keep watch from the air." The dark winged figure commanded.

"Good idea, Dark Pit." Roy nodded at him. _Dark Pit_... I wasn't fond of him. I knew a fair amount of people in the mansion; for the rest, I either hadn't met them yet, or forgot their name.

I suddenly heard the tall woman with pale blonde hair call my name and turned around. I think her name was Rosalina. She motioned for me to come over; I guess it was my turn.  
"Hello, Lucas. Are you enjoying your stay in the Mansion so far?" She made polite conversation with me as she ran her dye-covered fingers through my hair.

"Yeah, it's good. Some of the other fighters are awfully scary looking though." I admitted, frowning nervously.

"They can be rude sometimes; you'll get used to it eventually. If anything ever happens to you, just tell me or Princess Peach; she's put them in their place on many occasions. If you don't feel safe, you can always come to us." She seemed like a very nice lady. No wonder Ness spent so much time with her before I got here.

"Okay. Thank you." I smiled as she finished up my hair. She took a small bottle from the side table and passed it to me. "What's this for?" I asked, curious as to why I was given the little thing.

"You drink it; It will turn all your magic an aqua colour. Whenever you do pk fire, pk thunder, or any of your psi based attacks they'll come out blue." I don't know who the chemist was that made this stuff, but it was really neat.

I drank it with some hesitation. It actually tasted quite nice, it was blue raspberry flavoured. I stretched my arm out and to my surprise, the hexagonal psi was shades of pastel blue and pale and green; rather than the usual yellow and light purple colours. After that, she took the clothing safe paint and painted the red stripes on my shirt. Earlier, Zelda announced that we all had to wear our classic outfits for the event, which made sense now.

I stood up and went over to Shulk, as Pikachu and Roy were called over.  
"I say we have Dark Pit, Samus, and myself guard, with Bowser, Villager*, Shulk, Lucas, Rosalina, and Pikachu keeping the other team busy. While that's going on, either Luma, Sheik, or Roy try to get the flag." Sonic recommended, as him and Bowser came over to join our discussion.

"Good idea. Once everyone is ready we'll pair people off and place everyone accordingly. We won't be given the map until 5 minutes before the round starts, so we'll need to have everything else ready in advance." Sheik informed.

Once everyone was finished, we had decided on leaving Sonic, Samus and Dark Pit for defense; and putting everyone in small groups or pairs for mid-field or close offense. Shulk, Pikachu and Myself were put together; as well as Villager* and Roy, leaving Bowser, Rosalina and Sheik. With 5 minutes left before the matches started, we were given a map. Our play area wasn't that big, and it was blocked off by a holographic barrier so people could see the boundaries.

The first two rounds were Citrus against White, and Fuchsia against Indigo, which we got to watch. The other team representatives put the leftover paint and whatnot in the area between the two play fields. They were two lengthy but not very wide areas with the flags at each end. We had to stay behind the barriers once they were activated, so we couldn't interrupt the other teams.

I looked around for the purple eyed psychic, and smiled when I saw cherry coloured psi and a figure with light pink, red billed hat. Ness was on the red team, getting ready with Zelda, and some other pink thing. The first two rounds started, and we seen vibrant blurs of colours heading in all directions. Blasts of orange hopping along branches, along with white flashes of combat heading upwards to counter it.

I stayed focused on my friend, who was closely followed by Zelda and the other pink one. After trying to sneak around, they neared the other team's flag, but were stopped when they seen a strange muscular creature that I remembered being on stage with the other day. Zelda approached by teleporting, but was cornered when she re-appeared.

"Zelda, watch out for Mewtwo!" Ness yelled while trying to defend himself from Fox. Link and a blue haired lady ran up behind the two of them, trying to cover them from the others a few meters away from the flag. Fox tried to block the attacks, but had his shield broken by girl with the blue hair.

Ness ran over to help Zelda, and the muscular figure shot some form of condensed energy at him. He jumped, used his psi magnet, absorbed it, and kicked him out of the way landing beside Zelda to fight off Mr Game and Watch. The other little pink one floated in, grabbed the flag and started to retreat.

I saw Princess Peach and the tall one with the orange beard chase after her as she approached her base, but she tossed the flag down to Luigi. He caught it, and ran back towards their base with Olimar for support. The puffy one was trying to keep Pac-Man and away as best as she could, while Luigi ran on. He got there safely, and the match was given to them.

I didn't know them overly well, but I had liked most people on the winning team. We were up next, taking on the team that was just beaten by Ness' team. The second round started, and Pikachu ran behind the trees ahead of us. The three of us snuck around back there until we were close enough to the flag to see Roy and Luma fighting off the orange-bearded one and Robin. I heard a scream and turned around, to see that Shulk had been ambushed by Princess Peach, and Pikachu ran ahead to help Roy and Luma.

"I'm okay Lucas, stay back here and use your projectiles to your advantage!" He began to glow a dim shade of yellow, and seemed to defend better against the surprise attack from her. I looked over to Pikachu who was helping Rosalina and Bowser near the center of the field. They were fighting Mario and Dr. Mario, while Roy and Luma fought off Pac-Man, Toon Link and Diddy Kong.

Roy and Luma looked out outnumbered, so I sent out pk freeze and ended up hitting Pac-Man. I did a pk thunder to stun the other two after that, leaving Luma to go back with Rosalina, and Roy had the flag to himself.

"Nice!" Shulk congratulated me.

I seen Roy grab the flag and start running back. The rest of our team just had to wall out the others so Roy could get back, and then the match was ours. I sent a pk fire at the 3 who were guarding to keep them back far enough, and Roy was back with their flag within a few seconds.

The next round was us against the yellow team, and the round started with the same strategy. We got to our spot behind trees to see what we were dealing with, and Shulk decided that him and I should go help defend. A lot of people were going ahead rather than staying behind, so his plan made sense. Pikachu went up to try to make a clear path for Sheik, while we went back towards our base.

As we went back along the trees, I heard something approach us from above. Whoever it happened to be was very quiet, but I could still make out something in the trees above us. I let out pk thunder and ended up knocking Robin* out of the tree, where Shulk then fought her off.

"Good job, Lucas. I probably never would have heard her up there." He said, sounding proud of me.

"Thanks!" We ran back and we were met with a penguin-looking figure, and a man with a helmet and a form fitting suit. I dodged the penguin's hammer and hit him with my psi. I grabbed the helmeted one with my rope snake, to throw him towards Shulk. The two were launched towards the sides, and we seen Sheik running back with the flag yet again. The mango coloured team was one of the hardest yet, but we still managed to pull off another victory.

We won our next round against the White team as well; It was similar to the first match, but white was very heavy with defence. Shulk, Pikachu and I were fighting Charizard, Yoshi and Villager for most of the round. It was about 15 minutes until Luma was finally able to sneak in and get the flag, which was our longest fight yet.

Our last round was against the cherry coloured team, which I remembered Ness was on. Pikachu went a different way than Shulk and I, but he said it has something to do with fighting Greninja. Some theory about lightning beating water or something I didn't understand. We spent our time keeping the slower characters from getting to our guards at the base.

I continued to freeze them, leaving Shulk and his sword to do the rest. We seen Samus kicking people towards Sonic for him to grab and throw back, along with Dark Pit shooting arrows from above. Pikachu came running back with something in his mouth, which Shulk saw. He started glowing blue, and suddenly ran a lot faster. He was being chased by Link and the blue haired girl, both of which were catching up fast.

"Throw it here, Pikachu!" Shulk yelled running towards him. He caught the flag and ran back as fast as he could, earning us our final victory.

"Yeah! Awesome job everyone!" Villager* cheered as she high-fived us all. Our team representatives met in the center to figure out who won. Peach and Palutena wrote a few things on her clipboard, and then we were all teleported back.

Samus and Palutena went over to Peach to announce the winners. She picked up her pink and yellow mic and brought up a list of all the team members and their colours.

"Hey everyone! I hope you all had fun tonight with our custom event. Unfortunately we can't give prizes to such large teams, but the winners can absolutely have bragging rights!" Palutena said as the audience cheered. Samus took to mic from her to conclude the event with the winning teams.

"So, we've determined that third place goes to Fuchsia, second place goes to Citrus, and first place goes to Teal! Congratulations everyone!" The number of wins was shown on screen for each team and Ness ran over to congratulate me.

"Good job Lucas, you were awesome! My team was on their break period when you fought Citrus, and you hitting Robin* with pk Thunder was insane!" He high fived me and I smiled.

"Thanks, Ness. I thought your team did good as well!" We were then dismissed by Zelda and Rosalina, and most people started going back to their rooms. It was 1:45 in the morning, so it made sense that everyone was tired. Ness and I both had a really fun time.

I went back to shower and wash the dye out of my hair and shirt, and I heard that the serum that I drank would wear off by the next morning. I thought the event went really well; it was nice that no one was a bad sport about losing.


	13. Mansion Shenanigans

**Chapter 13. Mansion Shenanigans**

"She's here! I can't believe it, she's finally here!" I saw Link shaking with anticipation as Princess Peach and Samus greeted someone at the front gate to the Mansion.

"Calm down, Link! Who's here?" I laughed, awaiting the arrival with him.

"Just the most beautiful girl in the world! She has gorgeous brown eyes, and cinnamon coloured hair... I spent every day with her before I came here. I can't wait to be with her again." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Okay, lover boy. What's her name?" I saw Samus walk her into to the field and it looked like his heart skipped a beat.

"EPONA!" He ran over to a horse in the field and hugged it's neck. I sighed, and rubbed my temples.

"All this excitement over a horse?" I laughed. _It was 8:30 in the morning, and I was stuck with Link crying over a horse.  
_  
"Shulk, you don't understand! She is my best friend." He climbed up onto her and patted her head. "Come on, we're taking her on a tour." He motioned toward the spot behind him.

"If you insist." I climbed up and wrapped my arms around his stomach to hold on. He flinched a little, but it didn't seem to bother him.

We rode her over to where Zelda and Rosalina were; and Zelda perked up when she saw us.

"Epona?! I can't believe you brought her! Hey, sweetie." She stroked the horse's ears and smiled. "Did she just arrive?"

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago; I figured you'd like to see her. She'll only be here for three days, so I'm going to try to make the best of it." Hopefully Link would let me tag along. I always loved spending time with him, and having Epona around would only make things more relaxing and peaceful.

 _((Pov change))_

"I'm really excited for the event today; Yoshi and Diddy Kong told me about it a little while ago." I said with enthusiasm. It came a little earlier than expected, but I was still happy.

"Baseball, isn't it?" Lucas asked from sitting across the room on the floor. Toon Link, Megaman, Lucas, and myself were all in Megaman's room playing Mario Kart.

"Yeah! It's gonna start around 10:30. We're only having one short game so that we don't miss lunch though." I said happily.

"Makes sense. We don't usually have major events on Saturday." Megaman pointed out as he finished first yet again.

"God dammit Megaman, you're too good!" Toon Link complained as he got last out of us 4 yet again. I got 3rd place and Lucas finished in 5th.

"It's not even that hard of a difficulty, we're only on 100cc." Megaman laughed as TL folded his arms.

"It's too fast! You guys must practice all the time." He took the Wii remote from Megaman and threw it across the room. Toonie immediately started the round while Megaman ran over to get his controller.

"Not fair!" By the time he got back the rest of us were halfway done the first lap. I was in first, closely followed by Lucas. Toon Link was in 9th, still hitting the walls of coconut mall constantly.

"Even if he isn't playing; you still suck, Toonie." I giggled as TL punched me in the arm. I fell over, losing my lead to the blonde boy sitting across from me. Megaman caught up by the second lap, earning 5th place and gaining on us. By the time lap three rolled around, Toon Link was in 7th, Lucas was in 1st, I was in 3rd, and Megaman was in 2nd.

"Look out guys, I've got a lightning bolt!" Toonie warned before we were all electrocuted. Lucas and I weren't harmed much, but the timing sent Megaman flying off into a wall.

"God damn it TL!" He tried to recover, but it was the last lap so he didn't have enough time. Lucas got first, I got second, Toonie got 5th and Megaman had fallen into 8th.

"Good job Lucas! We can hardly ever beat Megaman at this game." I patted him on the back and he smiled.

"Thanks! That was really fun." Lucas laughed as Toonie threw the game case at Megaman's head.

"Ow, thanks Toon Link. What a way to treat your friend." He giggled and rubbed the back of his head. We suddenly heard the PA system cut in.

"Attention Smashers! Anyone wanting to participate in the baseball game today please meet at the field as soon as you can to be divided into teams!" Rosalina's concluded and I jumped up off the floor.

"Alright guys, it's time to get ready! I don't know if you want to play or not, but It'd be cool if you would watch!" I grabbed my bat and got ready to leave.

"I'll play! I'm not great at baseball but it still sounds like fun." TL got up to join me.

"Lucas and I will just watch. You said the game starts at 10:30?" Megaman asked, picking up controllers off the floor.

"Yup! You might want to come down a little earlier though, just in case." I smiled and headed down the hallway, with Toonie skipping along in front of me. **  
**  
We got to the field, where we met a few others who I expected. The most surprising thing by far, was the fact the Link and Shulk were in the middle of the field on a horse. Once everyone was ready, Samus called everyone to the pitcher's plate to make teams.

 _((Pov Change))_

"So, Lucas; what was Mansion Three like?" Megaman asked, putting away the rest of the controllers.

"It was kind of like this one, but a little less technically advanced. We didn't have as many people, but we generally did the same things. We still had tournaments and practices, but Mansion Four seems like more fun." I sat on the blue bedsheets and played with the stuff in his room.

"Oh, I see. Who did you hang out with while you were there? I know Ness and TL were in Mansion Three, but people don't talk about it as much as you'd think they would." He came over to his bed and sat across from me.

"Mostly Ness. I was really scared of everyone when I first got there; Ness was the only person that I was comfortable around. I hung out with Toonie, Kirby, Pit, Ice Climbers, and a few others; but Ness was my best friend." He smiled at me.

"It sucks that you were anxious about staying in the Mansion, people are usually pretty nice to each other. As for Ness, he was seemed kinda lonely since we moved to Mansion Four. He always had people to talk to, but it seemed like he was missing somebody. He looks a lot more cheerful since you came around, though. I'm sure he's happy you're back to keep him company." So Ness really was lonely without me; I didn't think I meant that much to him.

"Do you think it was me he was missing this whole time?" I asked without thinking.

"It very well could have been. When we first met he was always talking about some boy that he was really close with. After a year or two being here, he started to forget things about Mansion Three; as most people did. He had eventually forgotten his name, but described him as having powers like his and blonde hair." He lied back in his bed and stretched.

"Sounds like he was talking about you all that time, Lucas."

Something about what he said made me feel weird inside. Strange, but a good strange. It was nice thinking that Ness told other people about me.

"Anyhow, you wanna come with me to find Villager* and Duck Hunt before the game?"

...

"Hey, Lucas; you made it!" Ness ran up to me when I got to the field.

"Yeah, Megaman wanted to come down a little earlier to see a couple of his friends. What team are you on?" I saw Toonie climbing on the penguin creature's back from across the field and giggled.

"We had team Captains; I'm on Mario's team. Hey, why don't we go find you a good seat before people get here?" I followed him up to the bleachers near the left side. "Right here should he good." He patted the spot near the end and I sat down.

"Thank you, Ness. Good Luck with your game."

"I'll do my best!" He picked up his bat and ran back towards the field. A few minutes later, I heard someone come up to me.

"Hey, Lucas; do you mind if I sit with you?" I turned my head and was met with a Kirby, who was yellow today.

"No, go ahead." He smiled and plopped down next to me.

"Are you here to watch your friend Ness play baseball?" He looked up at me with glee.

"Yeah, I am. He asked me if I'd come watch him today." I could hear several people laughing from the center of the field and glanced over.

"Onwards, Monkey!" I snickered when I seen Ike on Donkey Kong's back trying to fight TL, still on the penguin.

"Hey, Kirby; what's that guy's name?" I asked, pointing to the field. "The one that looks like a penguin in a Santa suit." Kirby laughed, upon hearing my description.

"Oh, him? That's King Dedede. He's from the same universe as me!"

"That's pretty cool. I kinda thought that when I saw him inhaling people during the event yesterday." At this point I think I knew nearly everyone's names.

"Ohhh, that makes sense." Kirby peered down with excitement as 10:30 neared.

"Ness is super good at baseball. His team almost always wins when we play!" Kirby said cheerfully. More smashers came out to watch, causing the bleachers to become a little more crowded. The teams started to gather on each side as a tall blonde woman in deep blue shorts and a red tank top stood between them. She flipped a coin to see who was infield and who was outfield.

"Donkey Kong, your team is up to bat!" Samus declared. The holographic scoreboard appeared, showing the teams, innings, and points. The teams were Mario, Peach, Toon Link, Ike, Robin*, Fox, Ness, Captain Falcon and Pac-Man one one team; against Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Morton, Little Mac, Link, King Dedede, Villager, Shulk and Wii Fit Trainer.

The game started and the fielders took positions. Ness ran over to the second base, and Captain Falcon was playing shortstop, next to him. The other team lined up around home plate as Morton went up to bat.

The first few hits weren't astonishing, only getting them to first or second base. Ness was usually the reason for stopping most from passing first base. Little Mac eventually hit one out to far right, earning himself third base and two runs. Robin* and Toon Link caught a couple high balls, causing the teams to switch positions.

Although Donkey Kong's team had a good infield, they were lacking in outfield. Ike hit a home run with Peach on third base, within the first 5 minutes. Shortly after, Captain Falcon got a rather strong hit, bringing Fox and Mario back to home plate.

It was the second inning by the time Ness was batting. He got a homerun, as expected. A lot of the other hits were caught by Diddy Kong and Villager, so the inning didn't last long. 11:25 rolled around, and the score was 6 to 7; Ness' team was winning. It was the 3rd and final inning and Ness was stood between first and second base awaiting the hit.

It was just before the last strike when King Dedede hit a home run with Link and Wii Fit Trainer on the bases, putting them two points ahead. Pac-Man caught the third out and they switched for the last time. Toon Link hit first, but his ball was caught by Shulk at third base.

Robin* hit, followed by Fox; the two of them had Second and Third base. Kirby cheered for their team every so often, which was nice of him. He was always one to be encouraging. Peach then went, but was caught out after she hit. I seen red shorts and a blue shirt and new the game was about to be won.

"You can do it, Ness!" I yelled to him as he approached home plate. I seen a smile pull at the corners of his mouth when he heard me. Ness drew back, and with a nearly perfect swing hit yet another homerun. Kirby and I cheered as Robin* Fox and Ness all ran back to home with their arms in the air.

"We have our winning team!" I heard Zelda declare from up by the scoreboard with Rosalina. The teams congratulated one another, which was nice to see. I stepped down and neared the field when I saw the other psychic looking for me.

"Good Job, Ness! I knew you had it in you." He ran up to me with his bat in his hands.

"Thanks! I told you I was the baseball champ." He put his arm around me and smiled gleefully.

"Ew, you're all sweaty from the game. Gross." I got out from under his arm and giggled. He rolled his eyes and wiped his forehead.

"Oh, come on; it's not that bad." I cringed as he wiped his hands all over my arm and laughed.

"Right." I rubbed my arm with my shirt. Ness was usually joking around like that. It was nice to see him happy.

"Well, I'm starving. I'm gonna go shower and I'll see you at lunch, okay?" I nodded, and he scampered off back to the Mansion. I didn't have much else to do, so heading to the cafeteria early couldn't hurt. I was walking down the hallway when I heard a voice call my name behind me.

"Hey, Lucas! You heading to lunch?" I turned and seen a winged boy with brown hair run up next to me.

"Yeah, I decided to head down early. Ness is gonna meet me here after he showers."

"Oh, okay. Do you two mind if I sit with you?" Pit asked politely.

"No, not at all." He perked up as we approached the cafeteria.

...

I sat near the edge of the table beside Ness, respectfully eating strawberries. I wasn't overly hungry, so Jigglypuff gave me some of her berries as an alternate meal. They always had extra options for the other smashers tastes. Everyone else was having some form of chowder, which did look tasty. Shulk and Yoshi joined Pit, Ness, and myself when they saw us. They were good company so I didn't mind.

Ness, worried about my eating habits kept offering me some of his lunch, which I refused. I had a lot for breakfast, plus I didn't want to fill up before practice. No matter what my reasons were, he was always looking out for me.

After lunch, Shulk went back to hang out with Link and his horse; Ness and I went with Pit out to the tennis court. Marth had challenged him earlier so we went to watch as we awaited practice. It wasn't until late afternoon so we had some time to kill. Ness and I just hung around with the others while we waited.

The two of us watched Marth destroy Pit in tennis until somewhere around 2:00, then we met Toonie on our way to the training area. We seen Ryu and Bowser talking on our way, two smashers that I didn't have good feelings about.

There was something about today that seemed a little... Off. It didn't really make sense, I did all kinds of fun stuff today.

It was probably nothing. I worry too much as it is.


	14. Be careful, Lucas

**Chapter 14. "Be careful, Lucas."  
**  
 _Tw: Blood, gore, fighting, bullying/abuse._

* * *

We sat on the floor waiting for our chambers to open, while Ness told me about how doubles practice worked. Everyone was assigned a random partner, and you fought 5 different rounds with whoever you were paired with. You'd be given 2 minutes to come up with a fighting strategy, if you wanted to.

At 2:30 sharp, the doors opened and we all stepped in. Lucario and Mewtwo were late, which was expected. A lot of the fighters with rotten attitudes liked to misbehave. We were teleported to the training area to meet our partners, and I was greeted by tall blonde boy in a ninja-like stance emerging from a cloud of smoke.

"Hello, Lucas; it appears we're partners. My name is Sheik. Since this is your first practice, I can lead if you wish." He started stretching to prepare.

"It's okay, I can fight; I'll just have to get used to it again. Thanks for looking out for me, Sheik." I did some psi attacks on the sandbag, just to be sure I had the hang of things.

"No problem." He said, bending himself into the splits. We talked about our play style and within a minute or so, we were teleported to our first stage. We were faced with Palutena and Greninja, which turned out to be a fairly easy matchup.

Sheik went in for most of the risky attacks, and I played it safe for the first little while. He gave me time to prepare, then threw the enemies towards me so I could hit them with a smash attack. On the last stock, I got Palutena trapped in pk Thunder and led her into Sheik, where he did his up-special to finish it off.

"Nice job, Lucas." We congratulated each other and the next round started. This time we were against Dr. Mario and Bowser, which again wasn't all that hard. I used my psi magnet to absorb a lot of Bowser's Fire, but I also got pk fire caped at me a few times. Bowser landed a few strong hits on us, taking stocks early, but we still stayed ahead. Sheik and I both had the benefit of speed against Bowser, so we were able to take him out first. Once we had Bowser out, two against one odds ended in our favour. We shook hands with them and awaited the next two fighters.

There was another flash of light, and we were on battlefield with Fox and Lemmy in front of us. We fought close to the two, because Lemmy had good distance attacks and fox could reflect any of ours. I started to get back into the fighting style, and did a few grab combos to rack up their damage. I even went as far as using pk freeze offstage so fox couldn't recover. The two congratulated us, and a new duo faced us shortly after.

It was the second last match, and we were against Mewtwo and Robin.  
Robin and I kept healing off of each other, but I eventually ledge guarded him well enough that he lost his stocks. Sheik got some damage on Mewtwo while I was busy with Robin, but Sheik was having trouble getting around the psychic energy he was using. I started hitting it back at him, and Sheik approached and landed the last kill. He thanked me for helping him out, and we waited for last round.

Between matches the scoreboard came up, and we looked at how everyone was doing. Ness was put on a team with Lucario, and they won almost every round so far. Toonie was on a team with Little Mac, and they were doing pretty good too. It was a nice balance between close range and long range attacks.

The last round started and I looked up to see two dark figures.

"Be careful, Lucas." Sheik whispered before the match started. I felt my heart rate increase and tried to focus on the upcoming fight. I kept my distance from Ganondorf, and tried to fight in the air around Dark Pit. I beat my anxiety as we got to the end of the match. I still had two stocks left and Sheik hit Ganon offstage. I jumped up, and with a kick backwards, I meteor smashed him.

"Nice move!" Sheik came over and proudly shook my hand as we claimed our last win. We were teleported back to the main training room, and Wii Fit Trainer prepared the replays. Ness had told me that every practice she made up a montage of the kill moves and big hits, and we all watched it afterwards. I walked towards the group of smashers with Sheik and was greeted by my friends.

"Heya, Lucas! How did everything go?" Shulk asked; standing beside his partner, Charizard.

"Really good! I got back into the swing of things, and Sheik and I won every round." I smiled as Pit high fived me, along with his teammate Luigi.

"Nice! We did pretty alright too." Shulk smiled as Ness and Lucario came over.

"Hey guys! How did you like practice, Lucas?" He asked happily while Lucario walked off to join Charizard.

"It was awesome! I actually landed a meteor smash." I said, proudly.

"Cool! They'll probably show it on the replay. It usually only takes a few minutes to put together." He sat with us and we talked about the rounds, waiting for the replay. The projection screen came on and Wii Fit Trainer got our attention. It started off with Kirby inhaling Zelda and spitting her off stage, and the audience giggled at his taunt afterwards.

We saw a couple big hits here and there, like when Lucina broke Rob's shield and Captain Falcon ran up and punished with a Falcon punch. There was another cool combo where Mr. Game and Watch threw Ryu forward into Samus' charge shot and killed him. I hadn't noticed she decided to fight in her suit today. After a few more cool moments, I saw the matchup between Sheik, Ganondorf, Dark Pit, and myself. I lit up with pride as it showed me meteor smashing Ganon and the other smashers cheered for me.

"Awesome job, Lucas!" Robin* yelled from across the room. I smiled and started to blush. The replay ended and everyone started to clear out of the training area. A few stayed behind, to train further on their own time.

I seen Little Mac doing chin-ups near the back wall, along with Samus and Palutena stretching on some mats on the floor. Villager eventually drug me off to go swimming, so I didn't complain and followed him. We went to get our swimsuits, and we headed off to the lake.

"You did really good at practice today. I can't believe you actually styled on Ganon like that! That was awesome!" He said, seeming really impressed.

"It was nothing, really. Sheik did most of the work." I laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck.

"People usually never do that to someone as strong as Ganondorf. Hitting Fox offstage was one thing, but that was crazy with Ganon. He doesn't take losing lightly most of the time." I felt myself sink a little when he said that. He seen my expression change and quickly changed the subject.

"It's fine though, don't worry. Just... Be careful, Lucas." We approached the Lake and my spirits lifted a bit. I seen Toon Link in a Dinosaur floaty chasing Robin, along with Yoshi, Peach, and Jigglypuff laughing at them.

"Hey, guys; I brought Lucas!" Villager threw his towel at me and ran towards the lake with his water wings in hand. I snickered and put our things on a flat rock.

"Hey! Glad you could come." Peach waved at me and I walked over to her. Since Toonie's attention was aimed at Villager, Robin swam over to join us. Peach was wearing a pink one-piece with a little blue gem on the front, and Robin had grey and Purple shorts. Their outfits suited them. Those two seemed quite happy together.

Jigglypuff and Yoshi were having splash wars, while Peach and Robin picked random rocks in the water, to see who could swim to them the fastest. Toon Link invited me over to see who could hold their breath longer out of him, Villager and myself. I ended up winning, and later the three of us played volleyball with the beach ball that Jigglypuff brought.

A little while later I hung out with Yoshi and we talked about some of the funny moments that happened during practice. Eventually, Peach reminded us that supper was starting soon. We all got ready to head back up and I ended up meeting Ness, Pit, and Diddy Kong on the way.

 _9:41_

"And that... is the story of Lavender town syndrome." I sat in a circle with a few other friends, who had gathered in the forest to tell ghost stories. Ness, Diddy, Shulk, Kirby, Zelda, Samus, and myself had all listened to Pikachu's story of the night. The candle that we had on a stump in the circle started to flicker and Diddy hid behind Ness.

"Ooooh, spooky!" Kirby said, snuggling into Shulk for protection.

"That's nothing; you should hear the stories Zelda has rattling around in her head." Samus leaned back and gestured to the woman next to her. "Tell them the about Ben." Samus grinned, and Zelda raised her eyebrows.

We all payed pretty close attention to her story; it was a freaky tale about a kid named Ben, who haunted a copy of a game called Majora's Mask. Whenever someone tried to play it, all the characters would be in the wrong spots and the music would mess up. Not only that, but this creepy statue would follow you around all the time.

"And when he went back to the save select screen, the file underneath the BEN file... Said 'DROWNED'." Several gasps were heard as Diddy held onto my hand trembling with fear.

"Pretty scary, huh? I've heard it 5 or 6 times and it still creeps me out." Samus stretched and Zelda giggled.

"Well, I'll enjoy my nightmares tonight." Shulk commented; now holding Kirby on his lap. I saw Ness pull his phone out of his backpack to check the time.

I was still a little bothered by what Villager said today. My stomach was upset from worrying, so I stood up and decided to head to my room for the night. "I'm gonna go back to the Mansion; I'll see you guys later." Shulk turned around, looking concerned.

"You want me to walk you back up? It's kinda dark..." He offered politely. I didn't want to make anyone leave early. With hesitation, I answered.

"No, I'll be alright; It's not an overly long walk." He looked uncertain.

"Alright, if you say so. Be careful, Lucas." I pulled on my sweater and started walking up the path. I had my phone in my pocket in case anything happened, not like it would. I had walked for 2 or 3 minutes when I started to see the light of the Mansion. I heard a frightening voice and froze in my tracks.

"Some performance today, kid..."

I turned around slowly and saw a shadow leaning against a tree. It approached me, and I felt my heart speed up. A hand grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me into the bushes behind me. From the dim light of the Mansion, I saw yellow eyes, half-hidden by a silver mask.

"You remember us, don't you? We used to have a lot of fun with you back in Mansion Three." Falco said with a grimace.

"Gimping Fox was bad enough, but you really had the nerve to disrespect Ganon like that? You're off to a shitty start, psychic." Meta Knight growled from behind me. The feathered figure pulled the front of my shirt while Meta Knight tightly gripped my hands, holding them behind my back.

I was powerless.

I started to cry as I felt Falco's knee hit the side of my jaw. He then kicked me in the shins, causing my knees to give. Meta Knight twisted my wrists when I fell, and I tried to scream; but nothing would come out. I felt nothing but tears burning my face.

"Please... Leave me alone." I managed to choke out.

"Who gave you the right to talk?!" He snapped, smashing me in the mouth in response. The two laughed, and Falco knelt down to face me. I cringed as feathers gently lifted my chin up.

"Aw, did we hurt you? We were just kidding around, Lucas." He spoke in a baby voice and I glared at him. Meta Knight drilled his fist into my side and another silent scream forced its way out between tears. I began to cough up blood, and knelt there helplessly.

"Now you know what it's like to be humiliated. Pull another stunt like that and you'll answer to Ganon instead." Meta Knight forced my neck back to face him while he spoke. Falco punched me in the side of the head, turning me back around and earning more chuckles from the masked figure as I sobbed.

Meta knight drew his sword, lifted the back of my shirt and started to scrape at my back with it. I winced at the stinging feeling.

"I think we gave him enough shit for one night. Let's get out of here before his boyfriend shows up to save the day." Falco commanded as Meta Knight pushed me back down and flew off.

Holding my stomach in agony, I started to dry heave. I lied on the ground, unable to move for what felt like hours. I began to slip out of consciousness, hoping someone would find me soon.

Three words echoed through my mind as my vision clouded over.

 _"Be careful, Lucas..."_


	15. Too Late

**Chapter 15. Too Late.**

 _Tw: Blood, gore._

* * *

"You think he'll be okay?" Pikachu said, looking back as his shadow disappeared.

"Yeah, he'll be fine; I doubt anyone would be back here at this hour. As long as he can follow the path to the Mansion, he'll make it back okay." Samus reassured from under her blanket with Zelda.

The ghost stories continued for a few more minutes, when I suddenly had an strange sensation wash over me. I had a distant feeling of worry, but shrugged it off and continued to listen to the stories. The feeling stayed, but I pushed it aside and gave my attention to the rest of the group.

It was less than a minute later when things took an odd turn. The whole right side of my face went numb, along with my hands. I was confused; this feeling was foreign but it felt so familiar at the same time. I tried to ignore it, it was probably because it was cold out or something.

It was a little over a minute later when things started to get weird again. My legs started to flush red, and I was suddenly hit with a sharp pain in my stomach.

"Are you okay, Ness? You look a little pale." Shulk stood up and walked over to me.

"I just got a bunch of really sudden pains, and I- I feel numb in weird places. I'm okay, it's just... different." He felt my forehead, and looked worried when he drew his hand back.

"You're warm; do you feel ill?" It wasn't really a sick feeling, I couldn't tell what it was.

"No... I don't think so. Maybe I just need to sit for a while." I rubbed my temples and tried to calm down. I couldn't think straight at all; my thoughts were just a mix of loud noises and clouded images. I closed my eyes, then saw red flashes and heard people shouting. I started to feel weak and tried as hard as I could to think about what was happening to me, but it felt like I was locked out of my own mind.

I had another jolt of pain in my mouth and on the side of my head, and tried to stand up but had trouble focusing. The numb feeling continued, and I eventually felt something scratching at my spine. Shulk got up and put his arm around me to hold me up, and the rest of the group stood up to join me.

"Ness..." Zelda came over and rested her hands on the sides of my face. I could faintly hear everyone asking each other what was happening, but I kept my mind on what the pressure in my head was. Everything around me faded out; I focused all of my energy on what my mind was trying to tell me.

There was something about the numbness that felt uncomfortably familiar. I started to breathe heavier and placed a hand on my forehead. Then it hit me... My connection with Lucas.

 _Oh, no..._

Whatever it was, I didn't have time to explain it to the others; or even try to understand it myself. "Guys, I have to go; something happened. If I don't come back in five or ten minutes, come find me." I grabbed my bag and ran down the path before they had a chance to respond. I bolted through the trees as fast as I could, straining my mind for any type of energy.

 _((Pov change))_

"Zelda, what's going on; is Ness going to be okay?" Kirby walked over to me and I picked him up, holding him close to ease his worries.

"I don't know. He seemed really worried about something, but it's Ness. Whatever's bothering him I'm sure he can handle it." I sat back down beside Samus, trying to remember what it was that triggered this when it happened in Mansion Three. Ness used to have these little episodes from time to time, and there was always something that caused it, but I couldn't recall what it was. I remembered him having psychic troubles and having to run off to fix some problem, but I still couldn't figure out what brought it on.

Samus put her arms around me, and kissed the side of my face to calm me down. I held one of her hands and stared down into the dimly lit grass.

"He told us that if he didn't come back, to go find him. All we can do is wait to see if he needs our help." Samus pointed out. We stopped telling stories, and waited patiently to see if the psychic returned.

((Pov change))

I got about three quarters of the way to the Mansion, when I felt another presence in the trees. "Lucas... Lucas, are you out here?" I took out my phone and shone the flashlight around where I was.

"Ness..." I heard a soft voice come from the trees, and I was terrified to see what condition the body it came from was in. I shone the flashlight where the voice came from and wanted to throw up when I saw him. He had bruises all over his face, hands, and legs; blood accompanying most of his injuries. He had no colour left in him, and he was struggling to stay awake

"Oh my god, Lucas... Who did this to you?!" I knelt down and got my first aid kit from my backpack. I wiped the tears from his face and tried to encourage him sit up.

"...It was Fa- Falco and Meta Knight; like always. They were mad at me for what happened with Ganon and Fox today." I picked up his limp body to lie him across my legs.

"I'll tell Peach what happened later, alright? They aren't going to get away with this." I said softly, stroking his hair to try and calm him down.

Lifting his neck gently, careful not to hurt him; I got water from my water bottle and washed the blood off of his face, hands, and legs. After that, I used gauze to try and stop the bleeding from the side of his mouth.

"Are your legs okay to walk, or do you need me to carry you?" He looked like he was hit pretty badly. He spit out more blood before he answered.

"Falco kicked me in the shins and my knees kinda gave out. I don't think I can walk back without hurting myself more, Ness." He looked up at me with an expression of guilt that I hated seeing.

"It's alright, this isn't your fault; I can carry you. I just hope you're alright. I'm sorry I didn't get here earlier..." I wrapped my arms around him gently.

"It's okay, Ness. How did you know I was out here...?" He questioned with a weak tone.

"I went numb in all the places you were hit. I felt a sharp pain in the right side of my face and later in my stomach; and I remembered that used to happen back in Mansion Three. It's because of our psychic connection." I gave him my water so he could wash out his mouth and hydrate himself.

"I told everyone else that if I wasn't back in 5 minutes to come find me. I'll tell them what happened and we'll get you back up to safety." I knew I couldn't get him back alone, not without hurting him more.

I held him for a few minutes, as we waited for help. We were interrupted from our embrace by two voices calling my name.

"Ness, where are you?!" Zelda called, with Shulk running behind her.

"I'm back here, Lucas is hurt..." The two of them cut through the trees and Zelda gasped in shock at Lucas' condition. It wasn't as bad as it was when I found him, but it was still hard to look at.

"Shulk, go get Samus. Tell her to take the kids back up to the Mansion; make sure they don't come this way." She ordered with a serious tone.

"You got it, I'll be back." He activated his speed monado and ran off.

"Lucas, Honey..." She lifted his chin with the tips of her fingers. "What happened to you?" She wiped more of his tears away as he squeezed my hand.

"Falco and Meta Knight attacked him. It was over something stupid that happened during practice today."

"Zelda, what's going on?" Samus said, running back from bringing everyone else to the Mansion. We had already filled in the other two on what happened, but gave Samus the same summary.

"I'm gonna kick their asses when I see them..." Samus cracked her knuckles and Zelda grabbed her by the shoulder.

"We know you're angry, Samus; but we have to get Lucas to Dr. Mario and  
Rosalina to make sure he's alright." I looked down at the boy lying across my legs.

"Okay, Lucas; we're gonna have to pick you up now. It's going to hurt, but we have to." He nodded and I got up, and held him by the shoulders. Samus then came over and grabbed his legs, taking him from me and using her other hand support his back. She held him bridal style as the four of us started walking to the Mansion.

I looked down at the ground, feeling nothing but disgust with myself. Shulk noticed how upset I was and caressed my back, soothingly. I forced back tears and kept going; staying as strong as possible.

 _I could have saved him..._

I should have went. It would have taken 5 minutes, he could have been fine. Even if I hadn't of ignored the thoughts earlier... None of this would have happened. I hated myself for being so stubborn; I should have known this was going to happen.

We finally got to the Mansion doors, and Zelda told us who was doing what. "Ness, you take Lucas to Dr. Mario and Rosalina. I'll go tell Peach what happened." I nodded and carefully took Lucas from Samus, holding him against my chest. He wrapped his damaged legs around my waist and folded his arms behind my neck.

"Come on, Monado Boy. We have to give those two what they deserve." Samus and Shulk ran off to pound the culprits. Zelda sighed, and slowly walked towards Peach's office.

"I'm sorry I caused this, Ness. I should have tried to fight back..." I felt him start to cry again.

"Lucas, this is _not_ your fault. If anything, it's mine for letting you go alone; I should have been there earlier." I started walking down the hallway, still trying to convince myself that none of this happened.

"You shouldn't have to take care of me all the time."

"This shouldn't happen to you in the first place. You don't deserve this." I knocked on the door and ran my hand through Lucas' hair, trying to keep him calm.

Dr. Mario answered and gasped, bringing us inside. Rosalina came from another room, with the same horrified response. I told them what happened and set Lucas on they counter so they could check to see how everything was.

"Are you alright here by yourself? I was just gonna wait in the hallway." I asked quietly.

"I'm okay. Try not to worry, Ness." He forced a smile and I left him with the other two.

"Ness," I turned around to see the door open and Rosalina motioned for me to follow her.

"He got hit pretty hard. Nothing serious, though. None of the cuts are in danger of getting infected, but he's going to be bruised up and sore for a while. He'll be fine in a day or two." Dr. Mario helped him off the counter and I picked him back up.

"I'll let Wii Fit Trainer know that he doesn't have to participate in events or anything like that until he feels up to it." Rosalina added before we left.

I brought him up to the rooms and stopped at my own. "You should stay with me again tonight; I need to be sure you're alright." He nodded and I brought him in, sitting him on the bed. I got my blankets and threw them on the floor, joining Lucas.

"Thank you... for everything." I could tell he was still in pain from earlier.

"I'm so sorry this happened. I'm just glad you're okay." I gently rubbed his back, trying to coax him to lie down. It was only 5 minutes before he was asleep, and I lied in my bed on the floor.

I looked over through the dim light at Lucas' bruised jaw, and felt tears welling up in my eyes. I kept it back all night, but when I looked at how bad I let them hurt him; I couldn't keep it in.

It was my fault; I should have known that they'd do that to him. It was stupid of me to just let him go by himself. All I had to do was walk him back, and he could have been fine; but _no_ , I had to leave him to deal with them by himself.

I practically let that happen to him. There were so many things I could have done, but I just left him there to handle it alone. Some friend I turned out to be. He hasn't been here a week, and he's already had the hell beat out of him and I wasn't even there to help.

I lied on the floor awake for what felt like hours, angry at myself for being so naive. Tears stung my face as I sat with my head in my hands.

It was 2:30 by the time I was too tired to be upset anymore, and I let fatigue get the best of me.

...


	16. Surprises

**Chapter 16. Surprises.**

* * *

"Lucas, you up yet...?"

I rubbed my eyes, and rolled over to see Ness peeking his head through the door.

"Not quite." I smiled, and stretched my arms above my head. Ness laughed awkwardly and came in to sit with me.

Since the accident, I had been spending nearly all of my time in my room. Whenever Ness got a free moment, he came in to check on me; he'd come see me after every practice and event to tell me how things went. My other friends popped in to visit once and a while too.

It was nice having the other smashers coming to spend time with me; I got pretty lonely having to stay in my room all the time. I was especially thankful with how often Ness came in. I loved seeing him, and him visiting 3 or 4 times a day really made me feel like I was important.

"So, how are you feeling today?" He asked, sitting on my desk.

"A lot better, actually. All of the bruises are pretty much gone, and the cuts have healed. The pains in my legs went away too." He perked up hearing that I had finally recovered.

"Really? I'm so glad you're feeling alright, that's good to hear." He exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, I can't wait for things to get back to the way they were. Since you're already dressed, how about I get changed and meet you in the dining hall for breakfast?"

"You're coming to breakfast today?" He asked with an excited tone.

I nodded, and Ness hopped off my desk.

"I'll save a spot for you; see you in a bit!" He said, closing my door.

I rolled out of bed, and went to my desk to check the calendar.

 _Tuesday, September 13th... Princess Peach and Bowser both have birthdays today! I wonder if they're having any parties?_

...

"Lucas; I didn't expect to see you. How are your injuries?" Megaman asked, surprised. I joined them at the table, for the first time in a few days.

"I'm a lot better, there's no pain at all; I'm going to start participating again." Everyone seemed relieved that I was feeling like my old self.

A little red Luma came over to tell us what we were having for breakfast, and we all gave him our orders. He floated back to the kitchen, and we continued our chatter as we waited. A few minutes passed, and we were brought combinations of eggs, sausages, and bacon.

"Hey guys, did you hear about the birthdays today?" Yoshi asked between bites.

"There's a birthday today?" Pikachu questioned, looking up from his plate of scrambled eggs.

"Two, actually; Bowser and Peach. Don't say anything, but I think Rosalina and the girls are planning a surprise party for Princess Peach." Yoshi whispered to the rest of us.

"Cool! It's not often that the older smashers do anything for their birthdays." Ness added.

We eventually finished breakfast, and I met up with Villager* afterwards.

"Morning, Lucas! How's your day?" She asked with her usual pleasant smile.

"Pretty good so far. Hey, do you think you could you help me out with something?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

...

"According to Olimar, the prettiest flowers grow somewhere around here." Villager* said, searching for the flower patch along the outskirts of the field.

"Villager*, look! I think I found the place he was talking about." I crouched down, and ran my fingertips along the golden petals of a daffodil. In the distance, I saw cream coloured lilies accompanying pink pansies. Villager* turned, and gasped when she saw the patch I had found.

"Wow, these are gorgeous! There's so many different kinds, too." She came over to where I was, and searched the opposite side. I collected some small forget me nots, as well as a large pink Lotus. I planned to find as many pink, yellow, blue, and white flowers as possible. I suddenly had my focus taken away from the little plants in front of me, when Villager* spoke again.

"Princess Peach is going to love this. It's very sweet of you to make her such a nice gift."

"Thanks, I thought it'd be kind to give her a little something." I looked over, to see her reading something off her phone.

"What was that? Sorry, Megaman is texting me." She shoved her phone back in her pocket, and gave me her attention.

"I just said I thought it would be nice of me to give her a little something." She nodded, and went back to picking flowers. I did the same, but eventually had my thoughts carry me somewhere else.

 _I wonder what it's like...?_

Megaman and Villager* seemed very happy with each other; I had admired their relationship since I first met them. It must be nice to have such a strong connection with your own special person. I liked that he texted to check up on her so often. Shaking away the thoughts, I focused on the flowers.

The two of us filled our arms, and eventually decided we had picked enough. We started to head back to mansion to find Olimar. Still thinking about Villager* and Megaman, I had nearly tripped by not watching where I was going.

"Lucas, are you okay?" Villager* turned back, giggling.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I noticed in the corner of my eye that she was still looking at me.

"Hey, is something on your mind?" She crossed in front of me and stopped, causing me to do the same.

"Uh, not really...?" She frowned at my uncertainty. "I was just wondering about your relationship with Megaman; I thought of it when he texted you." Villager* seemed confused.

"Wondering...?" 

"I guess; I don't know. I was just thinking about what it's like." I continued walking and she caught up with me as we approached the Mansion. She gave me a strange look, seemingly laced with worry.

"Why don't we talk about this again later? Maybe the two of us can hang out after Peach's party." She suggested as we neared the doors.

"Alright, sure." Villager* could be right; it was kinda odd that I had their relationship on my mind. I hadn't put much thought into relationships before; maybe it was good that I discuss things. My thoughts were often pushed aside, I figured it was healthy to give this some attention.

...

 _"Shh, we're almost ready!"_

Everything went quiet as Wii Fit trainer paged Peach's office, requesting for her to come to the dining hall.

"She'll be here any minute. Everybody stay quiet, and don't move." Zelda ordered with a look of anticipation.

About 20 of us were hidden behind the big buffet table, ready to surprise Peach when she turned the lights on. All of our presents were neatly arranged on the table, accompanied by a very large pink and white cake made by the older girls. I was crouched down by the edge of the table, sitting behind Ness. About a minute later, we heard footsteps.

"Wii Fit Trainer, why's it so dark in here...?"

"SURPRISE!" We all collectively screamed as the lights came on. Everyone came out to the front of the table to greet Peach. Shocked, she ran over to see us.

"Oh my gosh; you made all this for me?!" She hugged us all one by one, starting with Rosalina and the other girls.

"Do you like the cake? We spent an hour making it, and another two hours decorating." Zelda said, gesturing at the giant pink cake behind her.

"I love it, as well as all the gifts." She wiped the beginnings of joyful tears out of her eyes.

"It's the kind with the sprinkles inside too!" Yoshi added with a smile.

"My favourite; you are all so thoughtful. Now, let's get to the gifts. Who made this little bouquet?" She asked, looking around.

"We did, Princess!" Villager* raised her hand along with mine.

"It's beautiful; thank you both."

...

 _7:48_

I leaned against the wall in the hallway, waiting for Villager* to come out of the training room. We had just finished evening group practice; surprisingly, it was a lot of fun. We were all put into groups of either 8 or 7, and did 4 rounds. The objective was to get as many KO's as you could in 5 minutes.

I figured Villager* was still in talking with others about practice. A lot of people stuck around to talk about the replay. After waiting for a few minutes, she came out with Ness and Megaman.

"Hey, Lucas; I was wondering where you went. Did practice go okay?" Ness asked, seeming happy to see me.

"Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Robin and I teamed up on everybody during one round, it was super fun." After a small amount of chatter, Villager came up and suggested we head to her room to talk. Megaman hugged her, we said goodbye, and went upstairs. Once we got to her room she plopped on her bed and I sat on the floor.

"So, how you feeling, Lucas?" She asked, while picking up a stuffed cat from her bed and sitting it in her lap. Oddly enough, the little white cat didn't have a face.

"Uh, I'm okay. I had a lot of fun at practice."

"Same here; I got a crazy combo on Mario and then- wait, I'm getting off topic."

"We had a topic...?" I tried to think back to why she wanted to talk to me in the first place. I usually only forgot things when I had something on my mind.

"Yeah, remember? You were thinking about me and Megaman being a couple or whatever." Right, that was it; I had them on my mind while we were picking flowers.

"Oh, yeah. What do you want to talk about that relates to that?" She looked as if she was thinking, while playing with the stuffed cat's ears.

"What about our relationship made you think so hard?" I squinted my eyes a bit, and wondered to myself.

"Uhh, I'm not sure; let me think for a second." _Why did it capture my thoughts for so long...?_ "It might be because I haven't had a partner before."

"Oh, so that's what you meant when you said you wondered what it was like." I nodded, recalling that comment.

"Yeah. Love is very important to me, and I feel very strongly for many others. However, I've never really thought of being in a romantic relationship." I admitted.

"That's a bit weird. So, you've never wanted to kiss anybody or stuff like that?"

"Sort of, but I thought having a romantic partner was unrealistic. I've thought about it, but always brushed it aside thinking it could never happen." Villager* frowned.

"Why is it unrealistic? I think you'd make a lovely boyfriend; you're very sweet and considerate." She reassured.

"Thanks; that's really nice of you to say. I thought it would never happen because of how shy and quiet I am. I'm not very funny, and I'm not great socially." I looked down at my lap. It made me a little sad to admit those things.

"Aw, come on, Lucas. You deserve to be loved, especially since it means so much to you. Is there a girl you'd like to date?"

"Uh, I don't think; not a girl, at least." I answered, searching my mind for someone that I had feelings for. The only person that came to my mind when I thought about love was Ness. He's the only person that I've ever been close with, and he always keeps me happy. If I had to pick someone to love, it would probably be Ness. Perhaps I love him already...? It was hard to tell, the feeling was so abstract.

"Lucas; did you hear what I said?" I looked up, realizing that she had been talking to me while I was thinking.

"No, sorry. What were you talking about?"

"Never mind that, what was on your mind just then? Were you thinking about someone?" I fidgeted around nervously, unsure if I wanted to tell her.

"Will it stay between us?" She nodded leaned forward a bit, with an anticipating look on her face.

"It's alright, Lucas." Hesitantly, I spoke.

"I could have some kind of feelings for Ness..." Her eyes widened, and she looked excited.

"Really? That's so cute!" I started to blush and hid my face in my hands.

"Well, I don't know. I've never loved someone like that before, so it's hard to tell what my feelings mean."

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out along the way. Think about it a bit more; you never know what'll happen. Ness is bi, so there's no reason for him to not consider you." I shrugged, and stood up.

"I guess, yeah. I'm gonna head back to my room; thanks for talking about this with me." She waved goodbye, and made a heart shape with her hands.

... 

_"Lucas..."_

 _Who was talking to me?_

 _"I know you're confused. You'll understand soon."_

 _Understand what?_

 _"Listen to your thoughts; the answer will be clear soon enough."_

 _The answer...?_

All of a sudden, I woke up. "Oh," I thought to myself, "it was just a weird dream." I got out of bed and started to prepare for the day. After I got dressed and checked my schedule, I headed downstairs for breakfast. As I entered the dining hall, I saw Rosalina, Palutena, and Wii Fit Trainer sitting together. Rosalina saw me enter alone, and called out to me.

"Good morning, Lucas! Would you like to sit with us?"

I accepted their offer and sat in the spot next to Rosalina. They asked me how I was, and we chatted until our breakfast came.

"How did you find practice yesterday, Lucas? I know you were badly injured recently, hopefully that wasn't detrimental to your enjoyment of the event." Palutena asked as she finished her cereal.

"I really liked it; I wasn't sore or anything so it was a really great time."

"That's good to hear, I'm glad you're healthy again." Wii Fit Trainer commented, sipping her orange juice. I stayed with them for a while after they finished breakfast, while they talked and drank tea together. They said they did that most mornings, which sounded like a nice routine.

...

 _((Pov change))_

 _"Ugh, today is so boring; what can I do...?"_ I thought to myself as I paced around outside. I wanted something different... Spotting the unoccupied pool, I had an idea. I racked my brain trying to figure out where Mr. Game and Watch could be.

I ran into the mansion and searched the rooms that were the best social spots. He wasn't in the training room or the dining hall, so I made my way to the foyer and finally found him.

"Mr. Game and Watch! Can you help me out with something?" He nodded, and I gestured for him to follow me out to the pool. "I have the _best_ idea."

 _((Pov Change))_

I walked out of the mansion, and stopped at the puzzling sight to my left. I saw Mr. Game and Watch beside the pool, smashing his hammer into the water as Villager cheered him on. I walked up to see what was going on.

"Hey, Ness! How's it going?" Villager asked when I came over.

"Uh, I'm alright. What's happening here?" I gestured at the pool and he laughed.

"Oh, that. I wanted to go skating, but I don't have a place to do that because the water won't freeze for another few months. I got Mr. Game and Watch so he could try to get an 8 with his hammer to freeze the pool over. We haven't had much luck so far."

As if on queue, Mr. Game and Watch swung his hammer down and got a 9 on the power meter. About half of the water splashed out of the pool in all directions, soaking the three of us. We all looked at each other and chuckled. "I have a better idea; wait here." I pulled out my phone to text Lucas and ask where he was, while I made my way to his room. I got upstairs, and him and TL were on his bed playing with Pokemon cards.

"Lucas, I need a favour; can you come outside for a second? You don't have to stay for long, and Toonie can come too." He nodded, and the three of us went back downstairs to go back to the pool. When we got out, we saw Villager, Greninja, and Mr. Game and Watch filling the pool back up.

"Oh, hey Ness! We almost have the pool filled again. How come you brought Lucas and Toon Link?"

"We don't even know yet, he just said he needed a favour and took us down here." Toon link commented.

"Villager wants to go skating, and he's been trying to freeze the pool over for the past twenty minutes. Can you help?"

"Yeah, sure thing. Can we go skating too?" Lucas asked, and Villager looked pleasantly surprised.

"Of course! I'd love to have people to skate with." Lucas smiled, and walked over to the pool once it was filled. He used pk freeze, and aimed it at the center of the pool. He did it a few times, just to make sure the ice would be safe to skate on.

"I forgot Lucas could do that! Thanks, this is great." He finished tying his skates and started gliding around on the ice.

"Ness, I don't think I have skates..." Lucas looked over at me, pouting.

"Yes you do; every smasher has custom skates made for them. We can ask peach for yours, I have to go get mine from her anyway."

...

 _((Pov Change))_

"I haven't been skating in such a long time; I'm not sure if I can even stay on my feet anymore." Ness stood on the ice with his arms extended out to me. I cautiously stepped out onto the ice, and Ness held my arms to keep me steady.

"It's alright, I've got you." He smiled at me, and I briefly felt pressure in my forehead again. Perhaps this was the feeling Villager* was telling me about? No, it couldn't be; this felt like an external feeling, something from outside trying to get in. It was familiar, however still confusing. Whatever was trying to get to me, it felt inviting and safe.

I was shook back into focus when Ness spoke again. "Okay, let's try moving now!" He began to slowly skate backwards, pulling me along with him.

"Oh, this isn't so bad."

"See! I knew you'd catch on." He started skating faster, and making more turns. Within a couple minutes, I could skate without his help. He skated circles around me, and did a bunch of other fancy stuff that I couldn't pull off.

The 4 of us decided to play a few rounds of tag, which usually resulted and Villager and me being stuck as "it" all the time. Ness and Toonie were both very good skaters; They were really speedy and good at controlling themselves.

We eventually drew in the attention of some other smashers as well. After about an hour of skating, we had Sonic, Mario, Samus, and Zelda with us. Sonic wasn't as good on the ice as he was on the ground, but he was still pretty fast. The others all skated exceptionally well too. Though, Samus and Zelda's skating was _very_ admirable. 

"Ness, look!" He turned around and stood beside me to watch the couple skate together. They looked to be doing some form of pair-skating, where they skated while holding each other. Samus even did some lifts and throws with Zelda; it was very pleasing to watch.

"They're really good; I've never seen them skate like that before." I felt Ness' eyes on me as I started in admiration.

"I love couple figure skating; any kind of pair dancing has always been so beautiful to me." I said, watching in awe until they finished their routine.

"That was awesome, you guys!" Toon Link yelled to them from across the ice.

"Thank you, Toonie." Zelda blushed, and Samus smirked at him.

"You wanna try?" The blonde woman glided over to him and picked him up by his underarms. She spun him around a few times, and threw him in the air; he screamed during the whole thing, of course. Toon Link wasn't known to be graceful, or very trusting. Samus laughed with Toon Link (who had practically melted) in her arms. She put him down and ruffled his hair. "Wasn't that fun, kid?" She asked with a smile, earning a playful scowl from Toonie.

"On that note, I think I'm done skating for today." He glided to the side of the pool and sat down to take off his skates; the rest of us did the same.

...

 _((Pov Change))_

Sat next to Lucas during lunch, I wondered to myself. He was _still_ going on about how beautiful Zelda and Samus were when they danced together. He sat with his face in has hands, blissfully looking off into the distance in awe. Near the end of lunch, I had an idea; once I saw who I was looking for, I ran off to execute it.

 _"Princess Peach, Zelda; I need a favour...!"_


End file.
